Metro

'Never Again'

Jewish community supports agency for political refugees.

Alexa Stanard

will speak and will be joined by Holocaust
survivor Jack Gun of West Bloomfield.
Among the dinner's honorary commit-
tee members is Holocaust survivor and
yprien Ngizehayo, a Rwandan
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel.
who lived through that country's
Freedom House Executive Director Pegg
1994 genocide against Tutsis,
Roberts has made a deliberate effort to
could cry only in secret when he learned his involve the Jewish community with this
family was murdered in the mass killings.
year's dinner. "Genocide knows no geopo-
"I will never forget when I knew that all
litical, social or religious boundaries:' she
of my family had been killed," he says. "I
said. "While nothing is like the Holocaust,
couldn't cry or tell the bad news to anyone
victims of persecution share the unspeak-
because if I did, the killers would know that able pain inflicted on them and the horrific
I had lost people and that I was Tutsi and
memories that will stay with them always.
then I would be killed. So I cried secretly
"Our residents come from places like
and acted as if everything was okay.
Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Central
"I lost more than 200 relatives:' he added. America — places that have experienced
"I did not have a chance to bury them and
some of humanity's worst abuses;' she
to give them respect as human beings."
added. "We are grateful for the support
Ngizehayo fled Rwanda and came to
of our Jewish friends and look forward to
Detroit, where he applied for legal asylum
working together in the future for the ben-
with the help of Freedom House, a nonprof- efit of those hoping for a new life."
it organization that serves political refugees.
"The Holocaust was very, very unique
Freedom House is the only organization
Gun says. "There was never anything like
in the United States that provides com-
it and let's hope another like it never hap-
prehensive services to refugees, among
pens again. But people in Darfur and other
them housing, legal, medical, educational,
countries have suffered. Unfortunately
job training and transitional housing.
there was no Freedom House when they
Its mission is to "uphold a fundamental
were killing Jews in Europe. Nobody want-
American principle of providing safety for ed to take us. Nobody was willing."
those 'yearning to breathe free."'
By sharing his personal story, Gun hopes
Ngizehayo is one of many Freedom
to "make people aware of all the tragedies
House successes; he received asylum this
that can occur between human beings. I
year. He currently resides in Naperville,
feel we're very much alike, people from
near Chicago, and works with an organiza- Rwanda and all these countries that have
tion affiliated with his church in Rwanda.
suffered;' he said. "We have a common goal."
On Sept. 18, Freedom House will hold
Gun grew up in Rozyszcze, a small
its annual fundraising dinner at Bentley's
town in eastern Poland. The Nazis forced
Restaurant in West Bloomfield, where the
him, his parents, brother and sister into a
theme will be "Never Again." Ngizehayo
ghetto. Gun, who was 11 at the time, and
his brother managed to escape while his
sister, parents and extended family were
killed during mass executions.
Gun and his brother survived by living in
the forest, constantly on the run, with help
from a Christian Czechoslovakian farmer.
After liberation, the brothers lived in a dis-
placed persons camp where Gun's brother
met his wife. Her uncle lived in the Detroit
area, and so at age 13 Gun arrived here.
Current and former Freedom House
residents will attend the dinner, which
will include a pre-glow reception with
an opportunity to meet honorary com-
mittee members and residents. A stroll-
ing dinner and entertainment provided
Cyprien and Claudette Ngizehayo
by Freedom House residents will follow.

Special to the Jewish News

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September 11 • 2008 Di

Jack Gun: "We have a common goal"

"What makes this event so special is
that those attending will be able to meet
some of the residents, the very people that
their generous donations are supporting,"
Roberts said. "Meeting the residents first-
hand will truly be the highlight of the eve-
ning — it makes giving that much more
powerful. Their courage and stories of
survival promise to be life-transforming!'
In addition to Wiesel (who cannot
attend due to a schedule conflict), the
dinner's honorary committee includes
Debbie Dingell, vice chair of the General
Motors Foundation, and several promi-
nent members of the local Jewish com-
munity: Dr. Charles Silow,
clinical psychologist with
Jewish Home and Aging
Services; Kari Alterman,
regional leadership direc-
tor for the American Jewish
Committee; Betsy Kellman,
Michigan regional director of
the Anti-Defamation League;
and Jodee Fishman Raines,
former director of the

Detroit-based Jewish Fund and currently
vice president of programs for the Erb
Family Foundation in Birmingham.
Raines joined the committee because,
"Freedom House is so underfunded. Its
astounding how a program like this can do
the work its doing and not get the recogni-
tion it deserves and the funding it needs."
Many members of Raines' family per-
ished in the Holocaust, and she evoked
the United States' history of turning away
Jewish refugees in talking about the need
to support Freedom House's work.
"I think Jewish people can definitely
identify with people trying to flee perse-
cution and genocide," she
says. "It's that vivid picture
of boats coming here and
being turned away and those
people facing certain death.
"I'm proud to know the
Jewish community is play-
ing a really strong role in
speaking out against what's
happening in Darfur," she
added. El

Joee Raines

The Freedom House annual dinner will be held Thursday, Sept.18, with a 6 p.m.
pre-glow reception and 7 p.m. dinner at Bentley's Restaurant, 5586 Drake Road,
West Bloomfield. Tickets are $100 general admission, $125 with pre-glow. For
information, contact (313)964-4320 or www.freedomhousedetroit.org .