April Student of the Month Kion Bruno Addresses Sunrise Rotary

Sunrise Rotary heard Kion Bruno, its April Student of the Month, last Friday. A Staples junior, Bruno addressed an issue of the moment — the current climate of xenophobia that all too often can make Middle Eastern immigrants and refugees feel “unwanted and alienated.”

As the grandson of Iranian immigrants, he “wanted to make a difference… to combat the false portrayals of Middle Easterners and to help Staples students as well as the greater Westport community broaden their views and form more accurate opinions.”

To start his project he formed the Building Bridges club that now includes 65 fellow students. The club hears speakers from that part of the world, “so others could see how much like us they are.” They have heard Mohammed al-Maassari, the Syrian refugee who spoke to Sunrise Rotary a couple of weeks ago; a Palestinian-American neurosurgeon; and several Iranian women. The club has also held Skype conversations with a teenage girl in Iran and a Syrian doctor.

Beyond noting similarities, “Our goal is for the Westport communities to come together, to help those in need, particularly Syrian refugees.” He thanked Sunrise Rotarians Reverend Ed Horne and Dr. Yvonne Senturia for their work in helping bring the al-Maassari family to Norwalk.

Bruno closed by inviting club members to an educational program Building Bridges created. The next day, April 1, he said, they will show Salam Neighbor, a film made by two Greens Farms Academy graduates who lived in al Zaatari, a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, for one month.

About 50 percent of Syria’s pre-war population of 22 million is displaced, some internally, most elsewhere in the Middle East, and a growing number in Europe, in North America, and elsewhere in the world.

For many Syrians al Zaatari is the first stop to a new life. The camp houses over 80,000 people, making it the fourth largest city in Jordan.

A panel discussion will follow, featuring community members including al-Maassari; Ali Fajeed, an Iraqi refugee now on his way to becoming a dentist; Claudia Connor, CEO of the International Institute of Connecticut, a Bridgeport-based refugee resettlement organization; Representative Jim Himes; First Selectman Jim Marpe; and video messages from Senator Chris Murphy and State Representative Jonathan Steinberg.

Bruno added “Let’s build bridges together.”

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Submitted by Westport, CT

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