Karen youth perform a traditional bamboo dance during the World Refugee Day festivities at Balboa Park on June 21, 2014. | Photo Credit: Famo Musa, The AjA Project
San Diego marked World Refugee Day on Saturday in Balboa Park. Organized by the San Diego Refugee Forum, the event brought together more than eight cultural groups that have resettled in San Diego, a city known as a refugee capital.
Thousands of refugees have come to San Diego in the past five years. The most recent groups to settle in San Diego are the Karen, an ethnic minority from Burma, or Myanmar, and those who fled Iraq and Iran. San Diego also has large East African and Vietnamese communities.
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Featured photo’s from Saturday’s event were taken by young people — many of them refugees — who participate in The AjA Project, a Speak City Heights partner.
Alwaled, 19, Lina, 16, and Andrew, 14, discuss their work in Peacemakers, a youth program run by the International Rescue Committee, during the World Refugee Day event on June 21, 2014 in Balboa Park. | Photo Credit: Beto Soto, The AjA Project
The Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park hosted “The Faces and Textures of World Refugee Day” booth to encourage World Refugee Day participants to take self portraits. | Photo Credit: Beto Soto, The AjA Project
During the annual World Refugee Day event in Balboa Park June 21, 2014, Roxana and her daughter sell homemade shea butter cream and celebrate their indigenous African and El Salvadoran roots. | Photo Credit: Kiran Mehta, The AjA Project
A member of the Karen community demonstrates weaving techniques during the World Refugee Day event on June 21, 2014. Local Karen refugees meet regularly to weave in an effort to socialize and keep the tradition alive. | Photo Credit: Karla Flores, The AjA Project
Karen youth came together in Balboa Park June 21, 2014 to celebrate their culture through face panting, traditional dress and dance at the annual World Refugee Day event. | Photo Credit: Karla Flores, The AjA Project
May Aye, a member of the Karen community in San Diego, has her face painted before performing a traditional Karen dance at the annual World Refugee Day event in Balboa Park on June 21, 2014. | Photo Credit: Famo Musa, The AjA Project
A 4-year-old Karen child takes in the World Refugee Day festivities at Balboa Park June 21, 2014. | Photo Credit: Brent Jensen, The AjA Project
Youth from the Karen Organization of San Diego perform the Karen Don Dance in traditional Burmese outfits. The Karen Don Dance is traditionally performed by teenagers in honor of the New Year in the Karen State of Burma, or Myanmar. | Photo Credit: Brent Jensen, The AjA Project
The World Refugee Day event on June 21, 2014 included performances and activities hosted by local Karen refugees, who are ethnic minorities from Myanmar. | Photo Credit: Binti Musa, The AjA Project