May 17, 2023
Jennica Larrison shares three anecdotes of forced migration stories, one from Venezuela, another from Afghanistan, and finally one from Myanmar. All these stories end in similar ways, the refugees never fully find safety due to the lack support of forced migrants into other countries. After sharing these accounts, Larrison dives into a terminology overview with vocab such as refugee, asylum, internally displaced persons (IDP’s) and forced migration. Following this, she displays a plethora of data revolving around countries of origin for refugees, population predictions of displaced people, and the percentage of refugees based on different factors. Next, she reverts to her original anecdotes to explain the lack of support by “host countries” of these refugees, including the U.S, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Finally, Larrison proposed a path forward on the local scale in Baltimore by explaining resources people can use to support the global forced migration crisis. In the question-and-answer portion, Larrison discusses topics including possible U.S. responses, population growth, and physical jobs of NGO’s.