This event is being held in-person and is open to everyone.

Join the Global Policy Area and Green Card Voices for an exhibition on the stories of recently arrived youth from Afghanistan and a panel discussion.

Inspired by the book “My City Was a Sparkling Jewel: Voices of Newcomer Youth from Afghanistan,” the exhibition and event will serve as a platform to explore the journeys of 30 storytellers, ages sixteen to twenty-two, who come from various ethnic groups: Pashtun, Hazara, Pashai, and Tajik. Using a trauma-informed approach to storytelling, Green Card Voices and its Afghan partners carefully collected the stories of these youth who share the challenges faced, opportunities grasped, and dreams these youth had, and still have, for themselves, and for the families and friends they left behind.

The storytellers are current students of three major Twin Cities High Schools: LEAP High School (Saint Paul Public Schools) and Edison High School and South High School (Minneapolis Public Schools). These three schools welcomed the largest number of Afghan evacuees in the metro area.

The exhibit will be presented in the Humphrey School Mondale Commons or Atrium from March 11-15. The event and panel will take place March 14th at 5:00 pm CST.

Speakers:

Muhammad Tayyeb, Cultural Facilitator, Afghan Support, Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), School Liaison for My City Was a Sparkling Jewel: Voices of Newcomer Youth from Afghanistan

Tea Rozman, Co-Director of Green Card Voices and Co-Editor of My City Was a Sparkling Jewel: Voices of Newcomer Youth from Afghanistan

Omar Sharifi, Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs who wrote the introduction to the book My City Was a Sparkling Jewel: Voices of Newcomer Youth from Afghanistan

Arshad Mohammed, Diplomatic Correspondent and Journalist at Reuters

Eric Schwartz, Chair of Global Policy Area at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs