The Global Village Project (2011)

The Global Village School (GVS) in Atlanta GA is a small nonprofit organization with a mission to '...provide adolescent survivors of war, whose formal education has been significantly interrupted by war and prolonged stays in refugee camps, with the enhanced educational and social services they need to become fully participating citizens in the democratic process of the United States'. The school opened in August 2008 and currently provides a unique education to 30 girls from around the globe, aged 13 yrs - 23yrs. It is a haven for these displaced young women from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma and Thailand, who have recently entered the US, through the United States Refugee Relocation Program. The multi-cultural environment of GVS offers an alternative to the larger public schools, in which most refugee children are usually placed on arrival to the US, in which they get lost within the system, and will never achieve their full potential. This documentary film, narrated by Matthew Lillard, will be shown on a national and international level to increase understanding of the refugee community and, at the same time, contribute to the sustainability of the school. The film will focus on two specific areas: 1. The community and history of the girls, their unique stories of the homes they were forced to leave, their journeys to the US and their future in the next generation of fully participating US citizens. 2. Raise awareness within the US that these children are not just beyond our borders, but new US citizens who will help build our country's future. We hope that, by working together to create this unique film, the young women of the Global Village School will be a voice for the 35,000 refugee children that are relocated to the US every year.