Unheard Stories

Fall, 2022 – Spring, 2023, Winooski, VT
In collaboration with Sarah Lowry, the Unheard Stories Project started in the Spring, 2022 with Abdoul Lailati and Khadija Hassan as a Community and Culture Capstone project.
Abdoul described the intention:
We created this project to change the way people view the world, and to challenge untruthful stereotypes they make about certain people or a particular group, especially the way they view refugees and immigrants who are from Africa. The purpose of this project is to tell fun and beautiful narratives about refugees and immigrants from Africa. We want our friends and community to know that people who live in Africa don’t only experience War. They also have beautiful stories that they would want people to know about.
The young artists, led by Abdoul and Khadija, met weekly throughout the 22/23 schoolyear to interview each other, to interview members of their extended community, to share their memories and experiences of living on the African continent, to remember their home, and to discuss the challenges and complexities of moving here.
The performance that this group created with the support of their adult team premiered in June, 2023.