Old and new arrivals meet at Refugee Day
Long-assimilated refugees mingled with new arrivals on Saturday at an annual event that brings Minnesota's refugee community together.
Twin Cities World Refugee Day celebrates Minnesota's longtime role as a new home for people fleeing conflict around the world.
The event, held this year at the Wellstone Center in St. Paul, allows newer refugees to meet and learn from those who have been here for decades, said Chay Douangphouxay, an honorary chairwoman of Refugee Day.
She said helping out keeps her in touch with her culture.
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"It's helping me embrace my people," said Douangphouxay, an Apple Valley resident. "Really connecting back to my roots. Because sometimes when you're not always immersed in that all the time, you kind of disconnect from that. So in a more selfish way I'm kind of here to also find my roots again."
Douangphouxay's family fled Laos for refugee camps in Thailand and came to the United States in the mid-1980s.
She said that the event's most important function is to bring the refugee community together once a year.
"Once the first wave of refugees gets settled they feel now that they've transitioned, assimilated into the mainstream culture, you kind of have this cultural rift between the two," she said. "So really I think Refugee Day is really making them aware of the new wave -- because sometimes you think, you've been here 20 years, no one else is coming, but they're coming every year."