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. Hamida’s story begins in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, where her father encouraged her to study before the family fled to Iran. When they later tried to cross from Iran to Turkey, they were stopped, and in the chaos her younger brother disappeared. Only several months later did the family learn that the eight-year-old boy was in Sweden. After arriving in Sweden, Hamida began handing out leaflets in a language she did not yet speak. Through the people she met at the Church of Sweden – including elderly individuals who helped her practice Swedish – her life took a new direction. Today, she is studying at Lund University. Hamida will be speaking English.