On 20 June every year, the world doesn't exactly celebrate World Refugee Day, but it does pause to recognise and honor the resilience of the men, women, and children who have fled their homes due to conflict, violence, or human rights violations.
On World Refugee Day, you learn that there are over 43.7 million refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world.
When you struggle to quantify that number in real terms, you're told that it pretty much equates to the entire population of Colombia, or even of South Korea.
And just as that bit of trivia sinks in, you're informed that of those 43.7 million people, nearly 35 million are women and children, and anywhere up to 13 million are persons with disabilities.
I was confronted with all these sobering facts when I went along to two World Refugee Day events at the UN today, both of which were organised by the UN Staff Relief Committee (UNSRC) for Syrian Refugees, together with the support of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and the Women’s Refugee Commission.
I have worked with UNHCR and WRC before, and I know their excellent work very well. But until today, I didn't know much about the UNSRC. The Committee actually formed in 2013 as a result of the informal fundraising efforts of Arab translators at the UN. Like everyone, the translators had been watching how the crisis in Syria had escalated over time, and they could see the scale of the unmet humanitarian needs and wanted to do something about it. So on their own initaitive, the translators and their colleagues started to raise funds for UNHCR, particularly to support the Syrian refugees and IDPs. With the backing of the UN Staff Union, the Committee was established as a recognised volunteer group in May 2013 and they've been active fundraisers ever since.
One of the great events I attended today was a makeshift Arab souk (a gift bazaar) and amazing food festival which had been set up in the lobby of the UN Headquarters. Culinary delights, bric-a-brac, jewlry and collectibles had all been donated from across the UN community and put up for sale, with 100% of the proceeds going to support UNHCR's humanitarian work for Syria, which includes providing the refugees and IDPs with tents, shelters, supplies and life-saving services.
I browsed the souk but didn't purchase anything. I was too tempted by the ladies managing the Indian food stall - who were kind enough to sell me heaped helpings of home-made chicken tikka masala, delicious vegetable rice, and two plump samosas that I gobbled up in no time.
With a full belly (and some chicken tikka masala predictably slopped down my cardigan), I waddled over to the second lunchtime event of the day, the "Concert for Syrian Refugees". This music concert was held in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium inside the UN Headquarters, which was named in honor of the Swedish diplomat, economist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner who served as UN Secretary General from 1953 until his death in a plane crash in 1961.
The Auditorium filled up quickly and it wasn't long before the UNSRC singers took the stage and worked through their first set - delighting the audience with a capella versions of songs from the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Germany, and even a tune from South Africa called "Sia Hamba" which I remember singing in choir at school. Happy flashbacks.
The UNSRC Orchestra took over next, and they handled some classical pieces beautifully - some I knew (Bach and Mozart) and some I didn't (Britten and Casals). I couldn't believe I was listening to amateur musicians - they were really great and looked very slick under the expert direction of their conductor.
A post on this site wouldn't be complete without some truly terrible photography, so please behold my Blackberry's woeful attempts to preserve today's performance:
Once the orchestra had concluded their set, we were treated to a special appearance by Filipina-American soprano, Kay Habana, who performed three solos including a very gentle version of Somewhere from "West Side Story", the lyrics of which beautifully suited the theme of the day.
The finale was a one-in, all-in affair, with the orchestra and the choir squeezing onto the stage to perform four songs together, including a folk tune from Zambia, a jaunty Latin-American number, "Moon River" from my favourite movie EVER. The concert wrapped up with the very appropriate "Let There Be Peace On Earth", which I also used to sing at school, and which went over very well with the audience today.
It was really great to come together and commemorate World Refugee Day at the United Nations, and help the UNSRC raise money to support UNHCR's important work with Syrian refugees. But it was also valuable to experience first-hand the wonderful musical talent that resides at the UN Headquarters, and the willingness with which the staff were prepared to share those talents with the rest of us.
