A Walk in Their Shoes: A Simulated Refugee Experience

A Walk In Their Shoes is an annual advocacy event hosted by the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado. This event seeks to simulate the refugee resettlement process for community members. A goal of this exercise is that empathy can be gained for refugee newcomer neighbors. These neighbors who have undergone this process in real life.
This year’s event, Spotlight: Burma, follows two real, unique storylines. The first follows a man from the 8/8/88 pro-Democracy movement in Burma east to the Thailand border, and then through the process of resettlement to the United States.
The second story follows a Rohingya man across the border into Bangladesh and then through the resettlement process as well.
Each story is intended to teach participants about the fraught history of Burma, about the experienced faced by refugees during displacement, and the challenges intrinsic to the resettlement process.
Food will be provided during the event free of charge.