The Voiceless: How my Master’s Portfolio Raises Awareness of Refugee Issues
When I realized that I had to create a professional portfolio for my master’s degree, it did not take me a long time to think about the idea. From day one, I knew that I wanted to do it about Syrian refugees. Before I could graduate with my degree in multimedia journalism from Arkansas Tech University, I had to submit a professional portfolio, which is a website that contains different multimedia stories, such as print, audio, video, photo, and infographic stories I’ve created. All of them are written, shot, recorded, edited, designed by me; all of them are about refugees.
You may ask me: why Syrian refugees? Why not any other refugees? The answer is so simple. After only 10 years of the conflict, Syria, which did not have many refugees in the past, is now the largest forcibly displaced population in the world. There are 6.6 million Syrian refugees worldwide, of whom 5.6 million are hosted in countries near Syria, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR. This number is higher than the number of displaced people who come from countries that have been in conflict and disasters that happened decades before the Syrian crisis.
I started working on this portfolio in the summer of 2020 by researching the topic, reading information, and building connections with people with firsthand knowledge of the situation. I live in Russellville, Arkansas, and in this state, I could not find any registered Syrian refugees. So, I decided to drive to Texas to meet people I could interview about this topic. Thanks to technology, I also used Zoom meetings to interview people I couldn’t reach because of the distance and the pandemic.
To be a talented storyteller, you need to hear more than to talk. I spent hours and hours hearing my interviewee’s interesting and sad stories at the same time. I heard about their fears, their escapes, their arrival to safety, and their success. I also interviewed experts in mental health, law, and charity work to gain a deeper understanding of this topic. I wanted to provide the audience with as much information as I could about this topic, and I tried to cover as many aspects of it as I could.
My professional portfolio’s website is called “The Voiceless.” At first, I wanted to name it “A Voice for the Voiceless.” Then, I felt that was a very long name, and at the same time, the main subject in this website is the voiceless refugees themselves, not me, the storyteller. I chose the black color for the website to reflect the sad situations the refugees face in their life and all they have lost.
On this website, you will feel that you are on a journey that starts with an introduction that explains why highlighting the Syrian refugees’ crisis is important. Then, you will see infographics that tell you information and statistics about the situation of refugees in the world.
Then you will go to the “The Run” icon. This is where you will hear an audio story about a Syrian asylum seeker in the United States. He tells us his escape journey from Syria to the United States. After this, you will watch an interview with an attorney who tells two horrible and sad stories about two asylum seekers. They are not Syrians, but important. These two stories are just two examples to answer the question “Why?” Why does a refugee leave his/her country seeking a safe life in the United States?”
Now, you have escaped and arrived in a safe country. You need to survive in it. Here, you will click on “The Survival.” In this section, you will watch a video with a female Syrian refugee. She came to the United States and started a new life from scratch. She became a successful woman. Then, you will see a photo story of another young Syrian woman who came to the United States when she was only 19 years old with her younger brother. She worked hard until she built a successful life.
We are about to reach the end by making a call to action. Here, in the “Help” icon, you will be guided towards how to help refugees. There are three stories: one article about the work of a famous refugee organization in the United States, one photo story about a donation event, and one audio story with an expert in the mental health of refugees. They explain the role that culture and xenophobia play in affecting the mental health of refugees.
In this portfolio, you will read, watch, and hear about different topics, which try to tell the story of refugees from multiple angles. These people once had a good life. However, because life is tough and politics is a nasty and dirty game, their lives collapsed. They had to flee their countries just to find peace. You never know, maybe you will be in their place one day. I hope this project explains the importance of educating oneself about immigration, refugees, displaced people, asylum seekers, and stateless people. I hope I encourage others not to be ignorant. Open your heart and your home to these scared people. Spread the word and speak up for them. Be merciful and kind. Be a voice for the voiceless.
This has been a very hard journey for me — and a lot of work — to do this professional portfolio. However, the journey of a refugee is much harder than this. This portfolio opened my mind to the world of refugees. I learned new information about this crisis, and I hope that this portfolio is my first professional step towards being a voice for all of the voiceless people in the world.
You can find Lina’s portfolio here: https://linaelshrief91.wixsite.com/voiceless
Lina is an Egyptian Fulbrighter who recently completed her master’s studies in Multimedia Journalism at Arkansas Tech University.
