ABOUT THE FILM

In 2020, filmmaker Ross Taylor (an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder) began documenting P.J. Parmar, a medical doctor, and founder of Mango House. It is the largest shared space for refugees in Colorado and the greater west. Mango House includes a medical clinic, dental clinic, shops, food court, event spaces and Scout Troops for boys and girls. Run for, and by, refugees, it’s a safe haven for refugees to feel at home and to thrive. Filming shifted in response to the spread of the Coronavirus and also documents Dr. Parmar’s response to it. His quick actions saved scores of lives in a community otherwise overlooked in healthcare.

HISTORY OF MANGO HOUSE

Dr. Parmar founded Ardas medical clinic in 2012 in Denver, Colorado. He quickly expanded and saw the potential for something much larger. In 2014 he moved his practice to Colfax Street in Aurora, Colorado and created Mango House, a nod to the fruit grown in most of the countries from which the refugees come. In 2018 he bought a larger building across Colfax and expanded Mango House.

DR. P.J. PARMAR

P.J. Parmar was born in Canada, raised in Chicago, and worked as an environmental engineer before studying medicine. After finishing training he started Ardas Family Medicine, and a couple years later Mango House, as places for resettled refugees to find healthcare, small business opportunities, and community spaces. Ardas has served over one hundred thousand visits, and Mango House has dozens of refugee tenants, including stores, restaurants, youth programs, and religious gatherings.

MANGO HOUSE FACTS

  • The basis for Mango House is the Ardas Family Medicine clinic for refugees, which started about 10 years ago.

  • Mango House opened about 8 years ago, at its first location.

  • The Mango House clinic (Ardas) has served more than 100,000 patient visits since opening.

  • The Mango House clinic (Ardas) has done more than 6,000 Coronavirus tests and given more than 12,000 Coronavirus shots (as of fall 2021).

  • Mango House has two dozen employees, half of whom are refugees. These staff are for medical, dental and pharmacy. Mango House staff speak: Amharic, Arabic, Burmese, Karen, Karenni, Nepali, Oromo, Spanish and Tigrinya.

  • Current Mango House tenant ethnicities include: Chin, Kachin, Burmese, Rohingya, Karen, Arakhan, Oromo, Somali, Nepali, Kirati, Sudanese, and Syrian.

  • Mango House tenant services include: clothes, domestic goods, groceries, international money transfer, electronics repair, jewelry, seamstress, restaurants, and religious gatherings.

  • Almost all tenants at Mango House are refugees. The Nepali Jeweler is not - he is on a special talent visa - but all of his customers are refugee (Nepali and Burmese mostly).

  • The Mango House clinic (Ardas) is open only to refugees, except for Covid shots it has been open to everyone.

  • Mango House has a ballroom that is available for rent only by clinic patient families.

  • Mango House is not 501c3 and does not ask for or take donations. It is a private business.

  • Mango House has a dozen religious gatherings, including: A Somali Bantu Madrasa, a Rohingya Masjid, Nepali Christian, Karen Christian, Chin Christian (2 congregations), Kachin Christian, Nepali Kirati (2 congregations), and Congolese Christian.

  • Mango House has 6 refugee-owned restaurants.

  • The Mango House Boy Scout program takes dozens of boys camping one weekend each month, for the last seven years.

  • The Mango House clinic (Ardas) does 100% of the Refugee green card medical paperwork (the N-693 form) in this state.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

COLLEGE OF MEDIA COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER

CENTER FOR HUMANITIES AND THE ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER

For their generous support of the film.