Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Syracuse to celebrate refugees with a day of international culture, dance and food trucks

Refugees gather for picture at Schiller Park in 2015.
Tai Shaw
/
World Refugee Day in Syracuse
Refugees gather for picture at Schiller Park in 2015.

Over the past decade, Syracuse has become home to more than 7,000 refugees. Last year, the city welcomed 266 refugees, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A weekend event will celebrate the local newcomer community as part of a global effort to recognize the challenges they face and their contributions to their new home.

It can take up to two years for refugees to get approved for resettlement in the United States, and getting acclimated to their new hometown brings additional challenges.

But Catholic Charities of Onondaga County supports between 100 and 700 Syracuse refugees each year, helping with housing, language classes and health care. Felicia Castricone, the program officer of refugee resettlement, said refugees each bring their own stories but they often include a common thread.

“They all have in common this inability to return to their country of origin. And part of that refugee designation is a recognition that you cannot go back. So refugees come here often not out of desire to come to the United States, but out of necessity,” Castricone said.

Tai Ngo Shaw came to Syracuse 40 years ago and now chairs the World Refugee Day planning committee in Syracuse. He said he knows what it’s like to leave your roots behind.

“I’m from Vietnam, I’m one of the boat people. I came here in 1982 by boat, by myself,” Shaw said.

But Shaw, like Castricone, said refugees are eager to embrace their new communities.

“We want to be heard, we want freedom, we want to live like everybody else, we want to call Syracuse our home,” Shaw said.

Yet there’s still stigma around refugees. Castricone said people should consider if the situation was reversed.

“Refugees are people like you and me. We could have a conflict in the United States that would require us to leave. And we would have to rely on other countries to accept us,” Castricone said.

The World Refugee Day celebration takes place in front of Syracuse City Hall on Saturday and will include cultural performances and international food trucks.