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Babson MBA '05 Alum Markets Launch of RefugeeDayLive.org

Babson 2005 MBA alumna Hui Hui Low has taken the lead marketing role to help launch the website, www.RefugeeDayLive.org. Created by VSee, the site will make it possible for a first-ever live audio-visual feed from refugee camps in remote locations in Chad and Colombia available to reporters, activists, government agencies, and others.  

The webcast, sponsored by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), will take place Saturday, June 20th. The live feed, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST, relies on VSee, a new video conferencing technology which permits interactivity to remote locations. Users can participate by submitting video recordings, text messages, and Tweets.

www.RefugeeDayLive.org will allow visitors to see live video stream from the Djabal camp in the central African country of Chad, one of twelve camps currently accommodating more than 250,000 refugees who have fled the violence in neighboring Darfur. They will also be able to see and hear displaced people at a settlement in Colombia, home to one of the biggest such populations in the world. The Colombian settlement, in Villavicencio, sits on the side of a steep slope where displaced families have carved out homes for themselves.

The stream will feature frontline UNHCR staff discussing their day to day work in helping the displaced, and refugees will talk about their experiences. Viewers will be able to see how ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary hardships live their lives in exile.

“This is a chance to see a world seldom seen,” says UNHCR’s Greg Millar.  “For anyone interested in refugee issues, this is an opportunity to learn and to be a part of a global show of support for the millions of people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes, families and communities because of violence and persecution.”

Hui Hui reports that among the many “firsts” in this project: it’s the first time video chats are enabled by cutting-edge technologies (http://www.VSee.com) to reach out to humanitarians’ efforts in seldom reached areas; first e-exchange between bay area students and students in Chad Djabal Camp, where they can interact and learn with music, sports and chats; first time some World Refugee Day events and well-wishes around the world can be received directly by refugees via YouTube, Twitter and Live chat – and, first time they can react and respond; and Angelina Jolie will be the first celebrity to VSee her friends in Chad!

 “It’s very exciting to be part of this history-making moment where media and technologies mesh to invigorate, inspire and instill hope in people despite incredible difficulties,” says Hui Hui. 

For the latest info about how to participate, visit http://RefugeeDayLive.org/participate.