Giving Compass' Take:

• Global Citizen, Leah Rodriguez discusses the work of Ali Fitzgerald, an American artist creating comics to humanize the refugee experience. Ten percent of proceeds from her new book will go to art programs for refugees and asylum seekers.

· How can art tell a compelling narrative of the refugee experience? What are the programs and policies we should focus on to make sure that asylum seekers are recognized?

• Here's more on refugees and how donors can help.

American artist Ali Fitzgerald didn’t have any experience working with refugees when she started teaching a comic workshop at a Berlin shelter during the height of Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015.

Now, after drawing with children and adults who were waiting on the results of asylum status applications over the course of a year and a half, she’s sharing her experience in a new graphic memoir.

Released in October, Drawn to Berlin: Comic Workshops in Refugee Shelters and Other Stories from a New Europe navigates what life looks like after being forced to leave home through the eyes of Fitzgerald's students, Saker and Michael. A portion of her income from the book — 10% — will go toward funding art programs for refugees and asylum seekers.

When Fitzgerald started teaching at the refugee shelter in 2015, 1.1 million refugees crossed the German border, according to the Brookings Institute. As of 2017, Berlin’s department for social affairs reported over 25,700 refugees live in the city.

Of the 150 refugees Fitzgerald met while working in the shelter, many of those who fled conflict in Syria and Afghanistan are now trying to assimilate to German life as far-right nationalism is on the rise.

Read the full article about the refugee experience by Leah Rodriguez at Global Citizen.