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Seyyid Shares Her Journey to UNO

  • published: 2023/03/31
Sharmila Seyyid, an Artist Protection Fund Fellow, came to UNO in fall 2021

Sharmila Seyyid, an Artist Protection Fund Fellow, came to UNO in fall 2021

After being persecuted in her home country, Sharmila Seyyid sought refuge with the Institute of International Education’s Artist Protection Fund (IIE-APF) and eventually found a welcoming place in the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).

Curtis Hutt, Ph.D., associate professor of religious studies and executive director of UNO’s Goldstein Center for Human Rights, was looking for an artist for UNO to sponsor for the first time. Through collaboration with IIE-APF, Hutt and the Goldstein Center were able to bring Seyyid to Omaha in fall 2021.

Seyyid was born during the 1980s in Sri Lanka just as the decades-long civil war was beginning. Her memories of childhood are filled with crimes, war, and displacement. “I experienced how war affected the people,” Seyyid said.

These experiences as a young woman fueled her desire to become a journalist although it was not allowed in her community for women to work as journalists or even travel alone. While many tried to squelch her aspirations, Seyyid persisted and interviewed over 200 women whose stories about being victims of the war changed her life and pushed her to become a writer.

Seyyid’s books caught the attention of extremists. “They wanted to throw acid on my sight and they wanted to rape and kill me. Because I am outspoken and [because of] my political opinion and writing and, of course, because I am a woman,” Seyyid said.

She fled to India, but things did not change. This led her to the IIE-APF and ultimately UNO. “If you’ve ever lived in an environment where academic freedom was not protected, you’d understand why people want to come to the United States,” Hutt said.

Since arriving at UNO, Seyyid has written three books that are helping to shed light on the suffering that so many people are still living with. While it is not possible for Seyyid to return to Sri Lanka now, she is using the discrimination she has faced to fuel her writing.

KETV recently published a story about her journey. See the full article on KETV's website. Read more about Sharmila Seyyid’s journey to UNO and the IIE-Artist Protection Fund on UNO's website.