Times Observer photo by Lorri Drumm After getting a look at the dam from the Big Bend Visitors Center below they traveled to the Rimrock hiking trail.

Eight children who came to this country from the Ukraine, Syria and Eritrea visited the Kinzua Dam for the first time on Saturday.

As they marveled at the sight of rushing water, huge carp and hungry seagulls, they also asked about the people, much like themselves, who were displaced when the dam was built.

Diane Brant spoke to the group shortly after their arrival at the Big Bend Visitors Center Saturday morning. “I used to live nearby, but I was displaced,” Brant told the group.

Brant lived in the town of Kinzua, which she said had a population of approximately 500 residents, when the U.S. government leveled the area to build the dam in the early 1960s.

Brant was 16 at the time when she and her family had to give up the place they called home.

Photo submitted to Times ObserverEight refugee children born in the Ukraine, Syria and Eritrea visited the Kinzua Dam and learned of its history Saturday for the first time. At left is Lyn McDaniel, local hike leader.

“I used to be able to walk to see my friends and family,” she told the refugees. “After they built the dam, I never saw some of my friends again.”

‘The dam has saved people from flooding but I was never able to go home again,” Brant said. “It was the saddest thing that ever happened to me.”

Brant asked the children if they had come to this country with their family, to which most nodded their heads. She added that it must have been hard to leave the communities they called home.

“Your experience was much more difficult than mine,” she told them. “But we are all here!”

As the group took in the view from below and above the dam, Brant’s story prompted some questions. Noah Tesfatsen, of Eritrea, asked if there were houses under the water.

Photo submitted to Times Observer Eight refugee children born in the Ukraine, Syria and Eritrea visited the Kinzua Dam and learned of its history Saturday for the first time. At left is Lyn McDaniel, local hike leader.

Brant explained that some houses were moved to other locations while remaining houses and trees were destroyed.

As the children gazed down at the huge carp that tried to catch bread before seagulls scarfed it up, one of the children asked if whales live here. He seemed a bit disappointed to find out they do not.

Kinzua Park Ranger Steve Lauser talked to the group of the purpose of the dam and the extent of the five-year building project. He also showed the group a yellow marker located not that far below the walkway the children stood on that shows the level the water reached during Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972.

Lauser then encouraged each child to share some of what they learned with friends.

The refugee children who visited the dam ranged in age from 12 to 15. Two brothers in the group have only resided in this country for 10 months. Most of the children have been residents for two to four years.

Saturday’s trip was the third time local residents Bill and Mary Massa helped to arrange a trip to the dam for refugees who receive services from the Multicultural Community Resource Center (MCRC) in Erie.

Not wanting to take too much credit for the outings the refugees experience, Bill Massa was quick to acknowledge the donations and financial support from community members, businesses and organizations that made the trip possible.