Civitas is focusing on issues related to refugees in this Fall of 2007. As part of the Global Gateway with the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, we are providing occasions for high school students to learn about the challenges, ordeals, opportunities, and general experiences of refugees. We are looking at the issue from two perspectives: 

Refugees in and around Iraq. Journalist / teacher David Enders of the Pulitzer Center spent several weeks in Iraq this past summer where more than two million civilians are "domestic refugees."  In late August he went to Syria where about half of the two million "external refugees" from Iraq are now living.  He will be reporting on their experiences.  Within the next several weeks, he will communicate with St. Louis students through the Pulitzer Center blog.

Refugees in St. Louis.  St. Louis is home to more Bosnian refugees than any other city in the United States.  Almost all of the immigration occurred following NATO intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s to secure a more lasting peace.

On this blog, we want to provide students with opportunities to dialogue with refugees from Bosnia and elsewhere who are currently living in St. Louis.  Students: feel free to ask your questions!  Some of you may also be refugees and have experiences to share.  In advance of the blog with David Enders from the Pulitzer Center, let's learn more about the refugee experience in our own community.

So let's open the discussion with Alisa Bala, an immigrant from Bosnia who attended Bishop DuBourg High School in St. Louis and participated for three years in Civitas programs.  She is currently a student at Meramec Community College.

Our first question to Alisa is, "Can you tell us when you emigrated to the United States and from what country?