STORIES OF ARRIVAL: REFUGEE & IMMIGRANT YOUTH VOICES POETRY PROJECT
Founded by Merna in 2009, the Stories of Arrival: Refugee and Immigrant Youth Voices Poetry project takes place at Foster High School in Tukwila, WA, one of the most language and culturally diverse high schools in the U.S. Foster High School ELL teacher Carrie Stradley co-directs the project with Merna. The project takes place in Carrie’s classroom. From the outset, the project has been affiliated with the Institute for Poetic Medicine (IPM) as an IPM Poetry Partner Project as well as a longstanding partnership with Seattle’s Jack Straw Cultural Center.
STORIES OF ARRIVAL: A NEW DIRECTION
.
In 2019-2020, Merna and Foster High School ELL teacher, Carrie Stradley took a new direction for the Stories of Arrival Poetry project, with an ambitious poetry poster project. The creation of visual poems (broadsides) shows the deep humanity of each young person in the project.
WORD TRAVELS: REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT VOICE AND VISIBILITY
In autumn of 2018 Merna traveled to Europe to realize a longstanding goal of working with refugees in Berlin and Athens, two of Europe’s major hubs for immigration.
NAMASTE GARDEN PROJECT
The new Word Travels project at the Namaste Garden in Tukwila, WA is part of the IRC New Roots program.