Syrian refugees must have human dignity and hope, the director for Catholic Relief Services Syrian refugee efforts said Monday, Feb. 15, at the college’s Founder’s Day.
“What is important is choice,” Chandreyee Banerjee, regional development director of Catholic Relief Services, said. “You are a human being. You are not number 10 refugee. You come and choose what is important to you.”
Chandreyee Banerjee from Catholic Relief Services gave the Founder’s Day keynote address based on her first-hand experiences dealing with the Syrian Crisis in the Middle East and Europe. Her address was one of many lectures that are taking place in Cabrini’s Lenten Lecture Series on Immigration.
Banerjee began her lecture by expressing her passion for assisting refugees.
“Maybe what is more important to me because of my great passion of the cause of refugees, a great passion on what is going on in the world today and to be in a refugee support programs, to be back here, in an institution that was formed by the patron saint of migrants, Mother Cabrini,” Banerjee said.
She then went into detail about her first impressions of being in the Middle East and working closely with the Syrian Crisis.
“The fear, the hurt, the frustration, the hope, I saw on the faces of the people,” Banerjee said. “What had hurt as I was standing across the border, along with my team, along with partners, [is] trying to help this mass [exit] of people coming across each border.”
Banerjee and her team ensured that as each refugee came, they were provided with a translator as well as pamphlets, in their own language, that explained how Catholic Relief Services was there to help.
“Remember when you are a refugee, you lose complete control of your life,” Banerjee said. “All major decisions for your life is somebody else’s.”
In each refugee camp, Banerjee explained how there were stations set up that offered medical supplies, food and water, clothes and other necessities for the refugees to take.
“To involve this group of people in contributing, to building to their own safe space, making decisions, [is] for their benefit,” Banerjee said. “It is the first step for them to rebuild themselves.”
She then told a story of an 11-year-old boy she had met when he arrived at a camp in Serbia.
The boy and the three other men he was traveling with, paid smugglers to get them out of Syria and into Serbia. The group traveled in a truck and did not see daylight until they reached the camp.
When Banerjee asked the boy how she could help him, he responded by saying, “I want shoes. My shoes are all worn out.”
“What really impacted me was when she talked about the one boy [who] was not even worried about food, but was concerned about changing his shoes,” Akirah Massenburg, assistant director of residence life, said. “That just hit home with me on how wasteful we are as Americans and what we take for granted.”
Banerjee concluded her speech with praising the work of Cabrini students and Cabrini CRS Ambassadors with their successful advocating to the government.
“Despite the influence we’ve had on one another and the many advocating practices, there is still a lot of work to be done,” Alexis Cunningham, senior political science major and CRS Ambassador, said.
Banerjee encouraged the audience to take her message and share what everyone heard and learned with their families and friends.
“Share those truths with your family because what you see on the media isn’t truth. And your family, your friends, people you are with should know the truth,” Banerjee said. “And more importantly, they should raise their voices to support the truth and raise their voices against the lies.”
