Photographs and Stories of Refugee Women Coming to Gustavus

“Photographs and Stories of Refugee Women: Perseverance, Dignity, Strength, Hope, and Peace” will be on display April 8-June 29 in Linner Lounge in the O.J. Johnson Student Union at Gustavus Adolphus College. Jane Kramer, an English as a Second Language instructor in a nursing assistant training program for new Americans in St. Paul, met the five women featured in the display as they trained in the program.
This exhibit illustrates the difficulties of being a refugee and adapting to American culture. Fleeing political and religious persecution and war in their homelands, these women face new obstacles each day in their integration into American culture.
Hearing the stories of these women and admiring their strength, Kramer wanted to share their lives with others through photographs and the women’s own words. She spent a year compiling photographs and interviews for this exhibit. “I am hopeful that you will see these women not as immigration statistics, but instead as mothers, sisters, classmates, co-workers, neighbors and fellow citizens who are contributing to the fabric of American society,” says Kramer.
Kramer dedicates this exhibit to the memory of her father, the Rev. Ronald Koch, who graduated from Gustavus in 1961. He served on the Gustavus Board of Trustees for 10 years and coordinated Pastor-to-Pastor, a pastoral support program co-sponsored by Gustavus and the Southwestern Minnesota Synod of the ELCA.