I’m hoping to look into refugee resettlement, particularly in Clarkson, Georgia. Through that I want to explore how sports play a role in the lives of refugee children. I also want to see how being on a team like Fugees Family affects the lives of the players, parents and coaches. In addition, I want to do broad research about the city of Clarkston, how it became a refugee town and what it is like to be apart of that community.
I first started my story search with the broad topic by looking for articles about refugees in Clarkson without the sports component. I found this story about a Syrian family that was part of the first group of Syrian refugees to come to Georgia. It also said that “Gov. Nathan Deal has vowed to block other Syrian refugees from coming into the state,” which is important background. About 3,000 refugees move to Clarkson a year, but widespread acceptance across Georgia isn’t typical. I then read this article that details that “Georgia cannot exclude Syrian refugees from resettlement in the state or deny them federally funded benefits,” as attorney general Sam Olens wrote in an official opinion last year. Some of the fear of refugee resettlement stems from acts of terrorism around the world. In 2016, Deal withdrew the order stopping Syrian refugees from resettling in Georgia.
I found this article about Luma Mufleh, who is the founder of Fugees Family. Mufleh spoke at a high school in Virginia and she explained some of the roots of Fugees Family. She grew up in a wealthy family in Jordan and said, “Everything I wanted was handed to me.” Similarly, this is a story written when Mufleh spoke at Illinois Wesleyan University. When she saw kids playing soccer in Clarkston without shoes, she felt motivated to begin a program that could help.
Looking on a worldwide scope, I read this story about refugee athletes competing in the 2016 Olympics. A year prior, IOC president Thomas Bach said at the UN General Assembly that “these refugee athletes will be welcomed to the Olympic Games.”