At a recent education forum about refugees, a teacher referred to them as "illegal aliens." And in a legislative committee meeting earlier this year, a Utah lawmaker asked "can't these people take care of themselves?"

How quickly we forget, says Shue Cheng, executive director of the Asian Association of Utah.

How quickly we forget that even America's earliest forefathers came only six or seven generations before us.

"The refugee issue is very interesting," Cheng said. "It reminds us of the beginning of our country. Now we have the opportunity to make a new life for them."

But people do forget. "They think these refugees are so different from them," Cheng said.

Kristin Lambert relates being a refugee to something many Utahns may identify with: the plight of Mormon pioneers who were driven from their homes in Illinois more than 150 years ago.

"It's kind of like the pioneers, except there's no support group. (Refugees) had to leave on their own," she said. "It was like just your family got chased out."

Refugees living in the community challenge what people say they believe about tolerance and diversity, says Doug Mottonen, Valley Mental Health associate director.

"And yet some people don't know quite how to react on their own beliefs," he said. "We as Americans think we're citizens of the world, and it's just words. I think understanding is the secret to being a citizen of the world."

But it is difficult for people to understand what they do not encounter in their daily lives. And most Utahns do not see the refugee gatherings in churches, homes and small businesses throughout the Salt Lake Valley:

• A few weeks ago, young Kurdish women, in special dresses made for the occasion, danced at a six-hour party to celebrate their New Year. Hand-in-hand, in a long line that circled the room, they danced to tapes of Kurdish pop songs. The older women sat on the edges of the cultural hall, made available by an LDS ward.

• Most Sunday afternoons, African refugees and immigrants gather at the African Mini-Mart & Take-Out on Redwood Road in Salt Lake City to discuss politics and social issues in their homelands.

• Every Friday night, Jewish refugees from Russia gather for choir practice at an apartment complex downtown. They sing songs in English, Russian, Yiddish and Hebrew. The group of mostly elderly refugees share hallah and prayers of the Shabbat ceremony to kick off their Sabbath.