2023: Year in Review
Dear UNGP Family,
We had an eventful 2023. I wanted to provide you with a brief update on the projects UNGP is currently supporting, changes in our team, and a note of gratitude as we kick off 2024.
Palwan Youth Empowerment
We have finished distributing nearly $30,000 in grants to help establish the Palwan Community Center and Palwan Boxing Gym in Istanbul, Turkey. In coordination with UNGP and the U.S. Embassy in Turkey, Palwan has made an incredible impact under the leadership of Samarjan Saidi since its founding in 2021. The center has quickly become an important part of the Uyghur community in Istanbul, providing a place for youth to take academic & leadership courses, host cultural programming, and enjoy social events. As envisioned when we embarked upon this journey, UNGP has taken a step back now that we have provided the pilot funding and early operational support for Palwan. The organization will continue its work with the support of larger Turkey-based foundations who are better equipped to facilitate its growth. We look forward to following Palwan’s continued progress and sharing updates with you in the future.
Caravan Uyghur Cuisine
In February 2023, we organized a pop-up event (photos here) in New York City in support of Caravan Uyghur Cuisine, a family-owned restaurant that was shut down in late 2022 due to a landlord dispute. It was a magical afternoon, attended by nearly 100 UNGP supporters. Attendees were able to sample some of Uyghur Caravan Cuisine's incredible cooking, read Uyghur poems, and participate in a raffle. Via the event we were able to raise nearly $3,000 in emergency funding for the Bakri family. Thank you to @ixamofficial and @ughurcollective for providing the prizes!
Over the past year, we have continued our work with the Bakri family and in partnership with Welcome to Chinatown, have now provided over $40,000 in financial support to Caravan Uyghur Cuisine along with significant operational and logistical support. Thanks to all of your support, we are excited to announce that the Caravan has found a new, larger location in NYC’s Financial District and is once again open for business!
We hope all of you will join us at a Grand Reopening event at the new Caravan Uyghur Cuisine on Saturday, February 24th. Thanks to Welcome to Chinatown, the UNGP family, and the determined vision of Chef Bakri, Manhattan’s first dedicated Uyghur restaurant is back!
Team Update
It has also been an eventful year in the personal life of our small UNGP team. Our President Saim Ali has begun his first year of medical school at University of Vermont. Jojo, our former Communications Associate, has departed our team to focus on her first year of college at Duke University. And I moved to New York City in May to start a new job with Rudius, an investment partnership that manages capital on behalf of endowments and charitable foundations.
Although these changes in our personal lives have made our work more challenging, we remain committed to supporting the Uyghur diaspora with any means possible. I cannot emphasize enough that, regardless of changes in media coverage, the problem remains very real. The Chinese Communist Party continues to systematically cleanse Uyghur people, history, and culture from East Turkestan. In addition, it continues in its well-documented track record of translational repression pursuing Uyghur exiles and even affiliated activists like ourselves. We have come face to face with the cost of these policies, in human life and in the well-being of innocents, and it is staggering.
When faced with overwhelming darkness, we take comfort in the pockets of light -- in those moments of joy and hope, a kid able to go to college, a father able to reopen his business and provide for his family. Those are the patches of humanity that we dwell in, that your support enables and that we seek to build upon. These little wins, the individuals whose paths have been slightly altered for the better because of actions we have taken, are our focus.
Each of us has the power to make this world just a little bit better, each and every day we step out into it. May we live up to that potential in 2024.
With gratitude,
Oliver Crane
Head of Operations
Uyghur NextGen Project
