One could earn a scholarship to study university here in Canada. Many children in the camp, including myself, saw education as a way out. It had its positives and hardships as well. Can you speak to your own experience in the camp and the role that education played?į: My experience in the camp is a bittersweet one. I recognize that you do not represent all refugee girls and that your story is unique. But it is a very normal thing to a Dadaab resident. Most people sound shocked when they hear so. I also moved to Canada to live and study after high school. I went away to boarding school in a city I‘d never been to at age 14. Growing up in Dadaab made all of us resilient people. There might have been instances of child marriages, but it was not that common in my community. I guess you can’t miss something you don’t know. I remember running around, helping mum with the household chores, and going to school with my friends. Yes, there is poverty and hardship but growing up, that was not what we felt. Give us your picture.į: This made me smile. When we hear about refugee camps, we have this picture of poverty, lack of water, chaos, conflict and child marriage. My life story is a run-on sentence but I believe it is a story of determination, resilience and the support of others. In a sentence, can you tell me your story? I truly admire your ambition and drive to use it for something good. Meet the girl behind the petition: Fatuma Omar Ismailįatuma, thank you for agreeing to share your story, I know it cannot be easy. Recently, I had the opportunity to chill with Fatuma and hear more about her memories of Dadaab, and what motivated her to start her petition. This fierce trailblazer is now a University of Toronto student in Canada - and she also happens to be one of my good friends. Life in the camp was difficult, but one thing gave her hope for a better future: attending school each day. Fatuma spent most of her childhood and adolescence living in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp - the largest refugee camp in the world. When Fatuma was just 7 years old, she and her family fled civil war in Somalia. To date, her petition has garnered over 160,000 signatures and counting. One of our girl gang’s most prominent and fearless leaders is Fatuma - a young woman who has sparked a global following with her petition calling on G7 leaders to make the education of girls in crises a priority at this year’s summit. As seven of the world’s richest and most powerful countries gather in Canada for the 2018 G7 Summit this week, we are on the edge of our seats: will they listen to us, and invest in girls? After months of lobbying, letter writing, speaking and petitioning, the summit is less than a day away. Girls around the globe, including myself, are urging G7 leaders to invest in girls’ education at this week’s summit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |