Last night, the students of Horace Greeley High School’s E.N.O.U.G.H. Club and the Town of New Castle Holocaust & Human Rights Committee held the Third Annual Human Rights Day Program. The event, which took place at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, featured three Westchester County residents who shared their experiences as refugees. The panelists included: Anuja Joshi, New Castle resident and Town of New Castle Holocaust & Human Rights Committee member who fled Uganda during the Ugandan Asian Expulsion in 1972; Westchester County Legislator Vedat Gashi who, along with his parents and siblings, fled Kosovo in the early 1990’s; and Ukrainian refugee Svitlana Kolobova. During the program the Co-Presidents of the E.N.O.U.G.H. Club, Jack Rosenberg & Elliott Saiontz, shared remarks from President Clinton and Secretary Clinton who reside in Chappaqua. As the need to advocate and protect human rights for all individuals is more important than ever, the Clinton’s heartfelt words resonated with the community. E.N.O.U.G.H. members, Eliza Elbaum, Robyn Keiles, Joshua Lungen and Ben Prober asked the panelists questions throughout the program. Town Supervisor Lisa Katz reminded the audience about the importance of welcoming everyone to our community. Co-President, Elliott Saiontz concluded the night by thanking the panelists and sharing, “It is my hope that we will take their stories to heart and change both our community and country into a place ready to supply refugees with the American Dream that Anuja, Westchester County Legislator Vedat Gashi, Svitlana, my ancestors, and many of yours, I imagine, came to America desiring.”
