December 15, 2017, by Lucy Gellman- Um Shaham (the mother of Shaham) was polishing a car in the driveway when the years of tragedy began. First, flames sprang from a second-story room where her infant daughter slept, just missing the girl but leaving her and her son with second and third degree burns. Then the fire devoured everything else in their path, taking the car in a burst of orange and red. Then the war came to her front door. Just months after the fire, her husband was shot dead from a stray bullet, his taxi returned to her soaked in his blood. And she was on her way, gradually, to fleeing her home country to stay alive. One side of Unpacked: Refugee Baggage, which lives inside a permanent exhibition at the UNICEF House. Hafez said that a wall was put up in the space especially for the show. Lucy Gellman Photo. One side of Unpacked: Refugee Baggage, which lives inside a permanent exhibition at the UNICEF House. Hafez said that a wall was put up in the space especially for the show. Lucy Gellman Photo. Um Shaham is a refugee from Mosul, Iraq, who arrived in New Haven in 2015. With nine others, her story is part of a retooled and revisited Unpacked: Refugee Baggage, now open to the public through Jan. 3 at UNICEF’s Danny Kaye Visitors Center in Manhattan..." Click HERE to comment and read full article.

Click HERE to read the full article and to comment.