"Home is Where We Make It": Contextualizing Highland Park's Refugees and Asylees Mural

Katia Yoza-Mitsuishi

Pink native flowers and constellations from the area between Syria and Eritrea surround three portraits of local refugees and asylees. Drivers who enter Highland Park and passersby on the main street see this image every day in the town's most recently completed mural. "Home is Where We Make It," was installed at the end of April 2022 on the side of a commercial building, and painted by artist Amrisa Niranjan. The project is the result of the collaborative work between the Shelter Project (www.shelternj.org), coLAB Arts, and the Reformed Church of Highland Park-Affordable Housing Corporation (RCHP-AHC). According to the Shelter team, “The mural focuses on local refugee and asylee resettlement efforts over the last couple of years, and represents community conversations with service providers and clients from Interfaith-RISE (I-RISE) and D.I.R.E. at RCHP-AHC, and Black Community Watchline. The main focal point of the mural is the three portraits referencing refugees we spoke with, representing areas of Northeast Africa and the Middle East around the Red Sea."[1] 

According to the Shelter team, "radical hospitality,” is, "a willingness to challenge one's comfort for the sake of another's," and the Shelter team emphasizes this value in Highland Park as a community.[2] This town receives refugees worldwide through Interfaith-RISE, which stands for Refugee and Immigrant Services & Empowerment, a program of RCHP-AHC. Since 2016, I-RISE has resettled over 300 refugees and asylees.[3] 

To understand the idea of "radical hospitality," it is essential to acknowledge that refugees and asylees are a particular category of migrants. Refugees and asylees do not choose to leave home to enjoy a land of opportunities in the United States. For refugees and asylees, going away from their homes is their last resort to survive. Refugees and asylees are migrants fleeing armed conflict or persecution in their home countries. There is a procedural difference between both terms.[4] A refugee has requested protection while still overseas and has been permitted to enter the United States as a refugee. An asylee requests asylum while already being in the United States. Amnesty International remarks on the risk of serious human rights violations and persecution for refugees in their home country. For that reason, refugees have the right to international protection. On the other hand, there is no international legal definition for a migrant. Amnesty International defines a migrant as a person staying outside their country of origin but who is not an asylum-seeker or refugee.[5] This NGO also highlights that, "lots of people don't fit the legal definition of a refugee but could nevertheless be in danger if they went home."[6]

Paul Ruperintwari points out the difference between an immigrant and a refugee in a Zoom interview with coLAB Arts' resident artist Ashley Teague in April 2021.[7] He remarks that his father was not an immigrant but a refugee from Rwanda in Burundi, where Paul was born. Paul can spell his last name in six different languages and has been moving from one country to another since he was 15 years old due to political unrest in Burundi. His country was affected by the civil war and genocide of the Tutsi minority in neighboring Rwanda. Paul fled Burundi to Zambia, looking for safety. Still, he had to flee soon again as some of the people who committed genocide were also a threat to nearby countries. It has been 15 years since Paul left Burundi, and he has not seen his mother and brother since. He came to New Jersey as a refugee with his wife and children and now works part-time at I-RISE, helping other refugees receive affordable housing. 

Like Paul, Fida Ayoubi also works at RCHP-AHC/I-RISE. She is a volunteer and employment services coordinator. Also like Paul, her family history is marked by displacement. They moved from Lebanon to Liberia, where she was born, due to political unrest. Fida was interviewed by Ashley Teague in 2021 over Zoom. Through I-RISE, her work with Syrians made her realize that, "When you lose your home, you lose your security, you lose your sense of belonging." Fida also says, "It's not easy to come to another country and have no family, nobody to depend on [...] and then have people hating you because they don't understand your struggle."[8]

Syria has been in crisis for more than ten years since the civil war started in 2011. There are more than 6.6 million refugees from Syria worldwide, although 5.6 million are hosted in countries near Syria. Another 6.7 million people are internally displaced.[9] The United Nations Refugee Agency considers that Syria is at the center of the "world's largest refugee crisis in decades."[10] Syrian refugees face unemployment and poverty, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened their living conditions. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, "More than seventy percent of Syrian refugees are living in poverty, with limited access to basic services, education or job opportunities, and few prospects of returning home."[11] Amnesty International reported that refugees are not safe to return to Syria. Those who returned were targeted by their decision to flee the country and accused of "terrorism."[12]

Along with Syria, refugees from Eritrea have also inspired the Highland Park mural. Since the country’s independence in 1993, Eritrea's president, Isaias Afewerki, has arbitrarily ruled without any elected legislature, independent non-government organizations, or an independent judiciary. Eritreans face severe government repression through forced labor, conscription, and restriction on freedom of expression and faith. The government only recognizes four religions: Sunni Islam, Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Evangelical (Lutheran) churches. Those affiliated with different faiths are imprisoned and tortured. Indefinite and forced conscription continues to push young Eritreans to escape the country. Thousands of Eritrean refugees have fled to Ethiopia's Tigray region, which is located south of the border with Eritrea, where Eritrean government forces continue to commit war crimes and human rights violations against Tigrayan civilians and Eritrean refugees.[13]

"Home is Where We Make It" invites drivers and passersby to welcome the refugees and asylees while visually recognizing the latter's struggles and hopes in the community. The mural also warmly welcomes refugees, who see themselves reflected in the portraits on the painted wall. As Fida says, "Talk to a refugee. Understand, do your own research. Refugees are the most amazing people and they want to work. They want to support their families, just like every single person."[14] I-RISE’s work is key to helping refugees feel welcome through its multi-cultural, multi-faith, and multi-racial coalition. This association continues to provide them with affordable housing and supportive services that contribute to creating a meaningful community for refugees.[15] The help of the community is fundamental for I-RISE’s success. It is possible to get involved by making donations, volunteering, or helping refugees get jobs.[16]  

[1] The Shelter Project. Shelter. https://shelternj.org/

[2] The Shelter Project. Shelter. https://shelternj.org/

[3] The Reformed Church of Highland Park. Refugee Resettlement. https://www.rchighlandpark.org/refugee-resettlement

[4] Migration Policy Institute. Refugees and Asylees in the United States. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-and-asylees-united-states-2021

[5] Amnesty International. Refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants. https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/refugees-asylum-seekers-and-migrants/

[6] Amnesty International. Refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants. https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/refugees-asylum-seekers-and-migrants/

[7]  coLAB Arts. Paul Ruperintwari. https://colab-arts.org/oral-history-archive/2021/7/14/paul-ruperintwari

[8] coLAB Arts. Fida Ayoubi. https://colab-arts.org/oral-history-archive/2021/9/13/fida-ayoubi

[9] UNHCR. The UN Refugee Agency. Syria emergency. https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/syria-emergency.html

[10] UNHCR. The UN Refugee Agency. Syria emergency. https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/syria-emergency.html

[11] US for UNHCR. The UN Refugee Agency. Syria Refugee Crisis Explained. https://www.unrefugees.org/news/syria-refugee-crisisexplained/#When%20did%20the%20Syrian%20refugee%20crisis%20begin?

[12] Amnesty International. Syria: Former refugees tortured, raped, disappeared after returning home.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/09/syria-former-refugees-tortured-raped-disappeared-after-returning-home/#:~:text=In%20total%2C%20Amnesty%20International%20documented,treatment%20during%20detention%20or%20interrogation.

[13] Human Rights Watch. Eritrea. Events of 2021.

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/eritrea?gclid=CjwKCAjw4ayUBhA4EiwATWyBrjAzRFKXM4u12qUdduQhtF6NOinuRBPsZeomzSOBSfKMAO1NbX69aBoCNXIQAvD_BwE

[14]  coLAB Arts. Fida Ayoubi.

https://colab-arts.org/oral-history-archive/2021/9/13/fida-ayoubi

[15] Interfaith RISE. BE A VOICE TO WELCOME REFUGEES. https://interfaithrise.org/

[16]  Interfaith-RISE. https://www.facebook.com/InterfaithRISE/about/?ref=page_internal