"Why are you building houses out of cardboard boxes?"
Thursday, April 9, was a cold day. Bone-chilling, if you had to stay outside in East Plaza (a beautiful grassy area between David King Hall and JC) for hours. To thousands of undergraduates here in George Mason University, it was clear what they chose to do: To be inside where they could be warm and could use the slow Internet connection in the JC (well, it was definitely better than staying outside with no Wi-Fi at all). Yet, there were still volunteers that chose the latter choice. That’s crazy! Why would you do that to yourself? You would get a cold, and would be unable to attend class! The reason why was simple. These dedicated individuals voluntarily participated in an event called Displacement Day, orchestrated by the Working Group on Displaced Populations (WGDP)- a student organization that aims to raise awareness of the hardships that refugees and victims of human trafficking have to go through days, weeks, and even years. Because having a cold is the least of the problems that these unfortunate people have to worry about. Because they cannot afford having class attendance as an option.
The goal of the day was simple: building shelters to represent the living conditions that displaced populations have to go through. How? Early morning, volunteers went to haul cardboard boxes and anything that they could find from trash that was generated from JC everyday—dumpster diving as I have fondly called it. Throughout the day, no matter how cold it was, they got through different obstacles to build shabby shelters- shelters that possibly could not support a family of four for three days. Yet, they were so proud of themselves- so proud that they could not bring themselves to break it apart when the event came to a close. “Displacement Day was a really really amazing way to raise awareness of the unfortunate situation refugees around the world have been trapped in,” said Mena Ayazi, a George Mason freshman and an aspiring human rights lawyer, “I'm really happy that we are doing this because refugees deserve help and it is our duty to give it to them.” The event attracted a large number of students walking passed East Plaza. They stopped by, asked why shelters were being built, and walked away happily that they learnt something new that day. In the end, five shelters were built, and beautifully decorated. Volunteers and WGDP, even though cold and tired, went to bed that day with happy hearts that the plight of refugees had reached more people and hope for a brighter future grew stronger. At least to me, that was how I felt when I laid down after a tiring yet wonderful day.
