Area residents and advocates gathered for a poetry reading at Perk Up Café, located at 6536 Cornell Ave. Sunday, June 18, 2007, to celebrate the United Nations World Refugee Day (June 20).

Put on by the Refugee Resource and Research Institute of Indiana, area poets read either their own poetry or pieces written by others relating to ideas of peace, acceptance and cultural memories ranging from thoughts of war-torn cities to childhood carnivals.

Organizer Catherine Swanson mentioned that it is important to gain community and national recognition for the struggles that refugees go through because the average person usually does not hear about them until they have been placed in a bad situation.

"The United Nations instituted World Refugee Day to create awareness for the troubles refugees must go through," she said. "Indianapolis currently has two resettlement organizations for refugees, and is large enough to appeal to people for refugee sponsorship. However, there still needs to be more awareness and aid for the people that come to this city."

According to the convention relating to the Status of Refugees held by world governments in 1951, a refugee is someone who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion is outside the country of his or her nationality and is unable or unwilling to receive protection from their own country." This definition has recently been expanded to include persons who have fled because of war, civil conflict or as a result of natural disasters.

After Swanson made introductions, she welcomed Robin Shackleford, Director of Diversity Affairs from Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson's office for the first poem. She read a piece entitled "Welcome to this Century," a poem about young people and children moving into the next years of global peace and conflict.

She was followed by Sherry Wagner, who read a poem entitled "Chard" by Elizabeth Krajeck, which described the togetherness of a large family living in poverty. Wagner said that it was her time spent volunteering in Somalia that led her to recognize the struggles of refugees.

She was followed by Kimberly Scott, amongst others, who read her own poetry about her childhood excursions in Barbados.

There are currently an estimated 15 million refugees and asylum-seekers in the world today, with 80 percent of the refugee populations composed of women and children, according to the World Refugee Survey 2005. An additional 22 million persons have been forced into exile within their own countries.

Audience member Maya Worman, a field director for the Coalition for Immigration Reform, said that she came to the reading for inspiration.

"I realize there is a difference between refugees and immigrants, but I came here to see that people really do care about these particular kinds of issues," she said.

For more information on the status of refugees in the state of Indiana or for events relating to The United Nations' World Refugee Day, please contact the research institute at refugeedayindy@yahoo.com or check out their website at www.refugeeresourceresearch.org.