UNHCR Nordic and Baltic Countries 103d ago

The Refugee Speakers Programme is run by UNHCR with support from TEDx. It gives people with refugee backgrounds the opportunity to develop their storytelling and public speaking skills. The programme aims to create space for stories that too often go unheard. When refugee situations are discussed, the focus is often on numbers. The numbers matter, but they do not tell the full story. Behind every number is a person, a family, and a life shaped by experiences of forced displacement. Galyna shares how she has been forced to flee her home twice, and how the sense of security she once took for granted collapsed when the war began. As an internally displaced person in Ukraine, she encountered both compassion and harsh words from strangers who claimed she herself was to blame for what had happened to her. When she was forced to leave Ukraine in 2022 with her two children, she was entirely dependent on the help and goodwill of strangers. Galina will be speaking English.