Community

Experiential exhibit coming to Gig Harbor offers chance to walk a mile in refugees’ shoes

Posted on March 20th, 2025 By: Marsha Hart

“From Home to Home,” an experiential exhibit showing the realities faced by asylum-seekers and refugees, visits Gig Harbor from March 27 to April 1.

World Relief Western Washington and Chapel Hill Church, along with University Place Presbyterian Church, developed the exhibit.

Chapel Hill has worked with refugees for years. It is hosting the exhibit for anyone who is curious about the process refugees go through when fleeing their home country for a new life in the United States.

Working with refugees

World Relief Western Washington began in 1979 to aid refugees fleeing Southeast Asia. It is a Christian humanitarian organization that supports refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants from around the world as they rebuild a sense of home in Western Washington.

It, along with 10 other refugee resettlement agencies, held a contract with the U.S. Department of State to support refugees resettled in the United States, said Medard Ngueita, executive director of WRWW.

A display explains what it is like for refugees resettling in the United States, and the sadness and grief they feel leaving behind loved ones, and everything that was familiar to them. Chapel Hill Church works alongside other groups to welcome refugees who have entered the country through ports of entry on the West Coast when they are released from the Northwest ICE Processing Center, an immigration prison formerly called the Northwest Detention Center, in Tacoma. Photo courtesy of World Relief Western Washington

“Through this partnership, the federal government provided initial funding to cover shelter, food, clothing, and basic case management for up to 90 days,” Ngueita said. “Refugee resettlement is a public-private partnership, meaning the government funding does not fully cover the basic needs of refugees as they settle into their new community. As a result, World Relief relies on private entities, churches, and other community partners to help bridge the gap, supporting refugees on their path to self-sufficiency.”

Private funding, including from churches, will be the only money for these programs now.

“As of Feb. 26, the federal government has cancelled its contract with the refugee resettlement agencies,” Ngueita said. “Now more than ever before the partnership with private entities is crucial.”

From Home to Home

WRWW developed “From Home to Home” many years ago. Its staff updates and modifies it to reflect the current refugee and asylum-seeker experience under new laws and practices, said Hannah Snelling, outreach manager at WRWW.

“From Home to Home is unique in that it puts each person going through the exhibit into the experience of a refugee or asylum-seeker,” Snelling said. “We can all learn about the immigration laws and processes of the United States, but how can we really know what it would be like to walk in the shoes of someone seeking refuge here? From Home to Home takes immigration out of the realm of the theoretical and puts it directly into the human experience.”

Staff from WRWW, along with volunteers from the two churches, will transform Chapel Hill’s Toone Gathering Room by setting up stations that illustrate the stages of the refugee process. “From Home to Home” takes visitors through some of the steps in the process and gives them a glimpse of what it’s like to be a refugee, said Chandra Hallam, assistant outreach director at the church.

“The hope is that every person who goes through this exhibit will walk away with a deeper understanding of refugees and immigrants and be challenged to be agents of compassion toward their new neighbors,” Snelling said. “This exhibit certainly benefits those who go through the exhibit, but also helps build bridges with our refugee and asylum-seeker neighbors, thus making ‘From Home to Home’ a mutually transformative exhibit.”

One of the stops on the guided tour of the exhibit “From Home to Home” will give visitors a snapshot view of the hurdles that refugees encounter when they begin to enter our society. Grocery stores, post offices, schools, and restaurants are likely very different from those in their home country. Photo courtesy of World Relief Western Washington

Complicated realities

While the partners hosting the exhibit are all faith-based, the event is open to everyone, Chapel Hill outreach director Cara Taylor said. WRWW staff guide participants through each station and attendees will have a chance for discussions afterward. Ticketed time slots are for 1 1/2 hours, giving visitors time to absorb and process the experience.

“There will be rooms that represent the stages of a refugee prison camp, then certain kinds of transport, and traveling on foot, and eventually it leads you to making choices, painful ones,” Hallam said. “One of the rooms is dedicated to a detention center, and we have the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.”

The exhibit illustrates the complicated reality of universal and personal concerns like leaving children behind, finding a job, and the difficulties of landing in an unfamiliar place, Taylor said.

“It takes so much trust, and there are lots of opportunities for them to be taken advantage of,” Hallam said.

Church members have worked with people released from the processing center in Tacoma for years. After release from the facility, the refugees are free to begin a new life here in the United States, Taylor said.

“We’ve come alongside other groups that aren’t faith-based, and we greet people outside of the facility when they are released,” she said. “We help with apartment supplies, resiliency work, and all of that is privately funded.”

Resiliency is important for those seeking asylum, and Taylor said that having resilience depends on healthy relationships. “We are all neighbors here, so we want to have good relationships. We want to form lasting connections,” she said.

How to see it

Chapel Hill Church has hosted exhibits in the past that focused on social issues, such as HIV/AIDS and human trafficking. Taylor said the church hosted those events years ago, but they still resonate with Gig Harbor residents.

“Our hope is that this will be a safe space to get a tangible sense of the experience,” Taylor said. “It matters when you engage the whole community, and the good will that it can build is priceless.”

Click here for information about World Relief Western Washington.

For more information about From Home to Home or to schedule your time slot, click here.