Participants on Saturday, July 2:
GCAP: Currently Resides in Treviso, Italy; Originally from Bintang, Gambia; Immigrated in 2017
Leaving Gambia at a young age, he travelled the long distance by himself to the Mediterranean Sea, where he crossed in an inflatable boat to Lampedusa, Italy. He eventually resettled in Treviso, Italy (near Venice). He still has not received official residency status, so the only work available to him is manual labor. He is a member of the non-profit organization IntegraART.
8348: Currently Resides in New Jersey; Originally from Peru; Immigrated in the early 1990s
Born in Huancayo, Peru, her father was an investigative police and was on a hit list by guerrilla groups. Because of this, her family resettled in the United States, illegally at first and eventually obtaining citizenship. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, she felt the need to fight against terrorism and joined the US Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq the following year. She says "she didn't know who her enemy was," and has since started a non-profit organization that provides art-making workshops for veterans.
Participants on Sunday , July 3:
ss2255ss: Currently Resides in Düsseldorf, Germany; Originally from Irbil, Iraq; Immigrated 5 years ago
Currently living in temporary housing for refugees, he has not yet received official immigration status from the German government, and continues to extend his temporary status. He was injured from gun violence in the northern Kurdistan region of Iraq, resulting in total paralysis of both legs. In his free time he creates small architectural models.
Rock55: Currently Resides in Carlsbad, CA; Originally from Jalisco, Mexico; Immigrated 25 years ago
As a child in Jalisco, Mexico, she would pick chillies to earn extra money for her textbooks. Paperwork processing took 10 years before her father was officially able to bring his family to resettle in the US. Three years after coming to the US, she saw the attacks on September 11, 2001 as a teenager and she felt the urge to do something to help. She joined the army as a bridge engineer as soon as she turned 18. She was deployed to Iraq and has strong memories of being in the watchtower. She has spent many years recovering from PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.