Looking at a painting of a young boy, she tells a story about a family who owned a movie theater in Afghanistan and then were forced to leave their home. On the way, they were separated from their young son (the boy in the painting) and needed to hire a smuggler who found him and brought him back.
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Stories are what Elizabeth Thayer gained when she visited refugee camps in Greece and Germany. Through these stories, Thayer came to see that refugees are really just like us, which is the message that members of Their Story is Our Story hope to relay.
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The Utah born and raised artist and mother of six became interested in helping refugees when her friends living in Germany began posting on Facebook about the Refugee Crisis. She knew that art was a way in which she could personally contribute to the cause and approached her friend in Germany with the idea.
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“I thought, well maybe I could paint some portraits...and put them in some shows and maybe that would create some publicity or just make people aware of what’s going on,” she said.
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When her friend in Germany and her husband accepted the idea, she said she knew she could go. Thayer especially enjoyed the time she was able to spend with the children in the camp in Greece.
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“I loved them, and I could feel their love and their innocence. They’re just like kids everywhere. Some were a little mischievous and some were sweet. We drew pictures together and they gave me theirs to bring back. That was special.”
Elizabeth
By Kaylee DeWitt
Thayer smiles as she remembers a girl in her early twenties who shyly walked over and started talking to her. Thayer said that she and the girl didn’t necessarily discuss how the girl ended up in the camp, but they talked about what she wanted in life.
“She wanted to go to college and do Computer Science, and she said she didn’t want any kids,” Thayer said. “But she had a little brother who she just doted on. He’s about six or seven years old.”
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Through this friend, Thayer met other women in the camp who she said would hide from the camera and didn’t necessarily want to be drawn or photographed. She could relate to these women who, like her, had children and were doing their best to be raise their children in difficult circumstances.
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“I went and hung out with them for a while in the kitchen and that was special for me I think because it was a glimpse into their lives as mothers and it’s just like mine! That for me, was really an insight into what are the challenges of being a mother, being a wife, being female in a refugee camp where you don’t know what your future is going to be but you still have all the same challenges and day to day jobs that we do.”
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Thayer said something that surprised her was the way in which telling their stories was therapeutic for some of the people in the camps.
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“...for them, just to know that someone cares, that people want to hear their stories and share them with others makes a big difference and it gives them just a tiny bit more hope which sometimes is all that’s getting them through the day.”
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Thayer said that she often feels overwhelmed by the size of the Refugee Crisis and sometimes asks herself what impact her paintings will have. Despite feeling overwhelmed, it brings her peace to know she is doing something.
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The bigger picture in helping refugees, Thayer said, is that we need governments to change and allow people to have a safe place to live with their families.
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“We have to give them a solution and that’s the part where I get overwhelmed. I can’t change governments myself and maybe you and I can’t do it together but as a group, everyone has talents, experiences, and connections. If everyone does their little part, maybe someday we will be able to change something.”