In 2018, I had met many children during my visit to the Konik Refugee Camp in Montenegro. They had lived their whole life at the camp which was established by UNHCR in 1999 as a response to the Balkan wars for Roma and Balkan Egyptians fleeing violence in Kosovo. It was clear our lives were heavily contrasted.
The year before I arrived in Montenegro, my language arts assignment in sixth grade was to read the novel, “Refugee” by Alan Gratz. It walks through three stories of young children throughout history seeking refuge in a new country with graphic detail and description. Each child in the book faced various dangers from hunger to illness, as well as bombings and death. For some reason, these stories resonated with me. I was not sure why, but perhaps because my own father was a refugee and he often told the stories of his difficult voyage from Vietnam to the United States. As a result, this had intrigued me into the idea of helping refugees struggling today.
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While doing research for my language art book report, I stumbled upon a video from the Toy Library located within the Konik Refugee camp seeking donations. At the toy library, children can borrow educational toys in order to learn through play. This reminded me of how much I learnt through my toys and thought I could help. I started small by requesting donations in lieu of birthday and Christmas gifts and soon I had enough to reach out. My parents were supportive of my efforts and asked if I want to go to the camp directly to provide the funds so we worked with the Roma Educational Fund to make it happen.
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The visit opened my eyes to a different world, reminding me how fortunate I am to live the life that I live and how thankful I should be for it. This also gave me the startling realization that anyone, including me could have their life completely thrown off course at any time, much like theirs was, especially during this troubling and chaotic life we are all currently living through. This concept only further increased my determination to help these people. This is a short video of my journey: https://www.facebook.com/RomaEducationFund/posts/1636712489797412
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I now realize that the refugee story can be a powerful one. In the Refugee book and for my family, the journey has led to opportunity and promise. I want that to be true for the kids in Montenegro and all other refugee children. My hope is these children can receive the care and education that I have and I will try to contribute where I can. Since this need is currently strong in the Middle East, I look forward to using my developing Arabic language skills to support my efforts. I have already taken three semesters of Arabic through the John Hopkins CTY program.
In 2020, I raised funds for the Hope Kindergarten in Rabat, Morocco for children refugees from Yemen but COVD-19 forced me to cancel my visit. Instead, I worked with UN UNICEF to distribute the funds. This was my message: https://www.facebook.com/unhcrmaroc/videos/1934709199986217.
Until I can travel again, I will participate as a UNICEF Unite member serving as an advocate for worldwide children refugees by lobbying our esteemed leaders such as my Pennsylvania senators Senator Robert Casey and Pat Toomey who share my concerns for the cause.