The public is invited to visit the exhibit “A City of Refugees, a Community of Citizens,” and participate in related events through June 22. Event schedule:
Sunday, June 8, 3 to 5 p.m.
Film Screening: “A River Changes Course”
Healing garden dedication
Benediction from Buddhist monks
A taste of Cambodian Town
Exhibits open
Location: Western Ave. Studios, Onyx Room, 122 Western Ave., Lowell, MA
Sunday, June 22, 3 to 5 p.m.
Traditional medicine and healing – Metta Health Center and UMB
Author Seng Ty of “The Years of Zero: Coming of Age Under the Khmer Rouge”
Exhibits open
Location: Western Ave. Studios, Onyx Room, 122 Western Ave., Lowell, MA
Hosted by UMassLowell, Lowell Public Schools, Cambodia Town, Tsongas Industrial History Center and the Center for Lowell History.
Michael and Kitty Dukakis Recognized at Exhibit Opening
At the grand opening of the exhibit in April, UMass Lowell and community members recognized Michael and Kitty Dukakis for their support of refugees in the Commonwealth.
The former Governor of Massachusetts and Ms. Dukakis contributed to the acceptance of new immigrants to the region in the 1980s. Ms. Dukakis organized a mission to Thailand where she worked to release 250 orphaned Cambodian children.
Exhibits Illustrate Orphan’s Sense of Loss and Hope
The multi-media exhibits, created by faculty, students and community partners, showcase the stories of four Cambodians who were forced to leave their homeland during the genocidal reign of Pol Pot from 1975 to 1979. It also includes children’s artwork produced during the same timeframe that illustrate their sense of loss and hope.
The Cambodian Journey exhibit includes oral histories conducted by UMass Lowell history students of the journey of three Cambodians who escaped the killing fields of Cambodia and arrived in Lowell as refugees. This exhibit shows the locations and names of 13,042 Cambodian villages, locations of 158 prisons run by the Khmer Rouge from April 1975 to January 1979 and mass grave sites.
Cambodians as Refugees exhibit showcases collections of artwork created by refugee children as they arrived in Lowell in the 1980s. Drawings that were saved by their teacher, the late Dorothy Tsapatsaris, are displayed.
Lowell: A City of Refugees exhibit introduces visitors to Burmese and Iraqi refugees who have recently arrived in Lowell. The refugees’ stories are presented through their artwork and biographical profiles.
The UMass Lowell Cambodia Project, funded by a UMass Creative Economy grant, is the brainchild of Assoc. Prof. Pat Fontaine of the Graduate School of Education who was inspired by her experiences working with Cambodian children at an after school program in Lowell.