Refugees helping themselves
Children to raise money with concert, craft sale
At the interim headquarters of New Mexico Women’s Global Pathways stand several tables that are covered with sewing machines, brightly colored fabrics and small beads. At one of the sewing machines sits 12-year-old Rusi Fazili, who is making a light blue kitenge, or wrap skirt.
Rusi is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and came to the United States from a refugee camp in Mozambique in October 2015. She and 12 other refugee children will be performing at the African American Performing Arts Center at 4 p.m. Sunday as part of the Matunda Ya Yesu African Youth Choir. The choir members will also be modeling and selling self-made crafts — including Rusi’s kitenge — during a break in the concert.
“These kids have lived a life of deprivation,” said Nkazi Sinandile, the founder of NMWGP, through which she organizes educational and other programs that help refugees like Rusi.
Sinandile, who is from South Africa, is currently running NMWGP out of a back room at PB&J Family Services, a nonprofit that serves at-risk children and their families.
“It’s awesome having them here,” said Ashley Brown, one of the women who work in the building.
Through NMWGP, which is now funded exclusively through donations, Sinandile has taught refugee women how to sew to help them make money and get jobs. She has applied this idea to the members of the choir as a way for them to make some extra money for their families. They have learned how to make items that are simple but have a variety of uses.
“You can also use this as a car cover or tablecloth,” Sinandile said, holding up another of the kitenges, this one orange and black and made by her granddaughter, Tali Sinandile.
Several members of Sinandile’s family will participate. Tali and her sister, Khanyi Sinandile, are not in the choir but will be making and modeling items during the fashion show. Sinandile and her husband, Lungile, will be singing along with the choir.
Choir members range in age from 12 to 18 and are from refugee camps in several African countries, including Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Rwanda and Burundi. They will sing in their native languages, which include Rusi’s Swahili and Sinandile’s Xhosa, and will also perform traditional dances from their home countries.
Admission is $15, and attendees will be able to purchase craft items made by the children. The children will keep the money from anything they made. The proceeds from the concert will be split equally among all its members.
Sinandile hopes that people will support refugees by attending the event.
“Refugees and immigrants, when they arrive, they struggle,” Sinandile said. “But once they get a job and the support of the community, they do well. They really try to take advantage of opportunities in the community so that they can help themselves.”