Date: June 24, 2016
Event: Refugee festival launch
Venue: Black Box, Publika
2.45pm Arrival of guests
3.00pm Festival Director, Mahi Ramakrishnan's, opening speech
3.10pm Special Guest Dr. Muthukumar Murugesu's remarks
3.20pm Chief Guest YB Mr Charles Santiago's (Chairperson, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights) speech and launch of refugee festival
3.30pm Dance performance "Present and Future" from FUGEE school
3.45pm Nigerian singer-songwriter Kafayat Motilewa Quadri's "Music for the Soul"
4.00pm Photo presentation"KL Kita Je", by 17 year old Nur Aisyah Habibullah, a refugee from Burma. The body of work uses creative expressions to show they belong in a city which others claim is alien to them. This project is a collaboration between KL Krash Pad and Yayasan Chow Kit.
4.15pm Light refreshments
4.30pm Film screening "Friends of the Sea" by Geutanyoe Foundation (5min 41s). The short film is about the rescue of the Rohingya refugees by Acehnese fishermen.
4.40pm Q & A with Geutanyoe Foundation's International Director Lilianne Fan and Mohamudul Hasson, Rohingya refugee
5.00pm End
Date: June 25, 2016
Event: Refugee Festival Day 2
Venue: Black Box, Publika
4.00pm "Jes Ibrahim & friends" Singer-song writer round.
5.00pm "SLAMOKRASI" a Kuala Lumpur poetry slam event that challenges wordsmiths to conquer the verse and seize the crown. In support of Refugee Day, this installment will feature voices of the refugee community. Hosted by Melizarani T.Selva.
(https://www.facebook.com/events/1032602913492716/)
7.00pm Buka puasa break
7.45pm Visual art presentation by Fatna Hamid- Refugees: "Anguish expressed through art"
This presentation will explore different emotions of the refugees worldwide capture through mail art.
8.15pm Film screening "Stateless Rohingya.. Running on Empty" by Suthep K (12min 10sec)
This is a multimedia documentary project that produced a comprehensive photo essay and video about Burma’s ethnic Rohingya and documentation of social and political realities fueling migration and statelessness of this minority group
Q & A with Suthep via Skype
9.00pm End
Date: June 26, 2016
Event: Refugee Festival Day 3
Venue: Black Box, Publika
4.00pm Presentation by Mark Bayoud: Refugee children and access to education-building a school from scratch
4.30pm Performance by Somalian refugee children
5.00pm "Az samad & Kevin Theseira" Singer-song writer round
6.00pm Photo presentation of refugee crisis in Europe, Jordan and Lebanon by David Verberckt via Skype
7.00pm Buka puasa break
8.00pm Forum on "Refugee Children & Creating Opportunities", moderated by child rights advocate Dr Hartini Zainuddin.
Speakers: Petra Gimbad, Lecturer of migration studies at Monash University; Teungku Nasruddin, Humanitarian Coordinator, Geutanyoe Foundation; Nawa Haile: Somalian refugee; Ahmed Dirie: Somalian refugee
What are the opportunities refugee children yearn for and how can we, as a society, create an enabling environment for them? We can all play a role but how do we engage the state and other stakeholders? Come and join Dr Hartini and her team for answers and inspiration.
9.00pm Film screening "Displaced" by Amel Guettatfi (29min)
The film gives an insight into Syrian refugees in Calais, France
Q & A with Ms Guettatfi via Skype
10.00pm End of Refugee Festival
Note: There are three photo exhibitions running@ the festival: Romanian photojournalist Alexandra Radu has documented the lives of stateless Rohingya children in Malaysia.
Sixteen refugee children from Yayasan Chow Kit have portrayed a sense of belonging in Kuala Lumpur although others may not believe so.
And lastly the Geutanyou Foundation's photo exhibition depicts the rescue effort by Acehnese fishermen when Rohingya refugees turned up at the shores.