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NPR: New Video Game by a Refugee Puts You In The Shoes Of A Refugee

He was just a kid at the time. It was 2007, and his family was registering for benefits at a refugee camp in Uganda, where they'd settled after fleeing civil war in South Sudan.

He didn't tell anyone at first, but in that moment he knew in his heart that he wanted to learn to code, he says. More than a decade later, Mayen is garnering international recognition from Facebook and the global gaming community for an innovative video game that brings players into the life of a refugee. The latest version of the game — called "Salaam," which means "peace" in Arabic — will be released on Thursday.

Building empathy for refugees is especially pressing "under an administration that overtly expresses anti-immigrant sentiment and promulgates harmful policies against refugees and immigrants," says Rachel Landry, acting director of refugee resettlement and asylum policy and advocacy at the International Rescue Committee.



Mayen says Junub plans to premiere the newer, enhanced version of Salaam on December 12 during the livestream of the 2019 Game Awards. He says the main objective of the game remains the same: taking a character from a war-torn environment to a peaceful context that's left intentionally undefined.

"It's not a country. It's not a camp. It's just a place you can have peace of mind," he says. "It's not about the destination. The main thing is helping people understand the journey of the refugee and to have empathy for what refugees have to go through."

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