Amanda Rosensky
Year: Senior
Major: Politics & International Affairs and History double major
Hometown: Greensboro, NC
For our new HC followers — could you fill them in what is SAFAR?
“SAFAR (Student Association for the Advancement of Refugees) is a new student organization that has been working over the past year to create a link between the local refugee community and Wake Forest University community. We do this through a variety of efforts: running English tutoring sessions for refugees, helping refugee children with their school work, and connecting refugees with ‘friendship partners’ in order to build meaningful relationships.”
SAFAR Exec (Rav Mathone, Rose O’Brien, Amanda Rosensky, Juliee Shivalker, Taylor Alouf) at Wake Refugee Day
Not only do they work with refugees one on one but also host on-campus events to celebrate with the local community and raise awareness among WFU students.
I remember last spring Her Campus helped out your Global Youth Day Event (GYD) — how is GYD different from this event?
“GYD was a fundraiser event that came about in response to President Trump’s travel ban and his decrease in the number of refugees that would be allowed into the country. As a result of those actions, refugee resettlement agencies, like World Relief, had their funding cut. We wanted to be able to support the local World Relief office, so we designed Global Youth Day Event.”
Last Saturday, SAFAR hosted Wake Refugee Day. This event was mainly targeted on celebrating their stories so students and the community can learn about what it is like to be a refugee.
You guys work closely with the Winston-Salem’s refugee community — what is that like?
“Working with, more importantly getting to know, refugee individuals in our community is extremely rewarding. They are among the nicest, most grateful people you will ever meet, and I think that we have so much to learn from them and their experiences. It’s easy to get lost inside of the Wake Forest bubble, but reminding yourself that there are people in Winston-Salem, people around the world, that have faced such hardships is extremely important.”
Being a part of SAFAR has given Amanda a deeper understanding and appreciation of the different cultures, food and viewpoints when working with Congolese, Somalian, Burmese and Syrian refugees.
As the event chair, what are your goals for SAFAR this year?
“Since our annual event of the fall (Wake Refugee Day) is now over, SAFAR exec is planning on trying to host a variety of smaller events (collection drives, awareness campaigns, etc.) that will be designed to more closely meet the direct needs of local refugees. Since we are a new campus organization, we have high hopes that we will continue to grow at a fast rate and generate a lot of enthusiasm on Wake’s campus!”
If you want to get involved in this organization, feel free to reach out to Amanda!
Photos courtesy of: Amanda Rosensky