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OUTCASTS UNITED -- One Book, One San Diego Discussion

Start: 04/18/2010 12:00 pm

End: 04/18/2010 1:30 pm

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders notes:
”This is the fourth year of the One Book, One San Diego program. I support this initiative because it brings together our community and encourages residents to join others in the shared experience of reading the same book. The program encourages residents to participate in related events throughout the year, discuss the ideas raised by one book and examine how these ideas connect with our daily lives.
”Outcasts United is the story of a refugee soccer team, a remarkable woman coach and a small Southern town turned upside down by the process of refugee resettlement. In the 1990s, that town, Clarkston, Georgia, became a resettlement center for refugees and a modern-day Ellis Island for scores of families from war zones in Liberia, Congo, Sudan, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The town also became home to Luma Mufleh, an American-educated Jordanian woman who founded a youth soccer team to help keep Clarkston’s boys off the streets. These boys named themselves the ‘Fugees’ -- short for refugees.
”Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the ‘Fugees,’ their families and their charismatic coach as they struggle to build new lives in a fading town overwhelmed by change. Theirs is a story about resilience in the face of extraordinary hardship, the power of one person to make a difference and the daunting challenge of creating community in a place where people seem to have so little in common.”
On Sunday, April 18, at noon, our own Suzanne Dupree will lead a discussion of this fascinating look at the strength of community.

Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference (Paperback)

By Warren St. John

$15.00

ISBN-13: 9780385522045
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Spiegel & Grau, 12/2009

Other Editions of this Title

The extraordinary tale of a refugee youth soccer team and the transformation of a small American town

Clarkston, Georgia, was a typical Southern town until it was designated a refugee settlement center in the 1990s, becoming the first American home for scores of families in flight from the world’s war zones—from Liberia and Sudan to Iraq and Afghanistan. Suddenly Clarkston’s streets were filled with women wearing the hijab, the smells of cumin and curry, and kids of all colors playing soccer in any open space they could find. The town also became home to Luma Mufleh, an American-educated Jordanian woman who founded a youth soccer team to unify Clarkston’s refugee children and keep them off the streets. These kids named themselves the Fugees.

Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate its new arrivals. At the center of the story is fiery Coach Luma, who relentlessly drives her players to success on the soccer field while holding together their lives—and the lives of their families—in the face of a series of daunting challenges.

This fast-paced chronicle of a single season is a complex and inspiring tale of a small town becoming a global community—and an account of the ingenious and complicated ways we create a home in a changing world.