 I'm Adam, that's Sauna, that's where anybody was. Thanks for the help. Thank you all for coming. It's great to see so many people out here, not only just for the Star Series, but also to hear Sauna as well. Meeting Sauna, when I met Sauna for the first time, it reminded me how small the world is, because I came to Sauna through the process of working on a book that is telling the story of three different Syrian refugees from three different generations and was missing one generation. To put this together, I contacted some of the people, scholars at risk, asking me to help put me in touch with people, a woman named, who worked her name, Serena, who was about 24 years old, was at a party in New York with other 24-year-olds, and she called me and said, I met somebody whose boyfriend is the cousin of somebody else, who, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, here's Sauna's, this woman, Sauna's email, she's in Europe, but maybe you can get in touch with her. So I wrote to Sauna, and Sauna wrote me back and said, it is so great to reconnect with Roger Williams, and it's such a home, and I had no idea what Sauna was talking about. And then Kate Green wrote me and said, I hear that you are talking to Sauna, and I really had no clue as to how this was all connecting up. Well, it turns out that, I don't want to say Sauna's story, but this chapter in Sauna's story, of which she's sort of in the middle of or sort of coming out of, started here at Roger Williams University when she was in the MEPI program, which is the Middle East Partner Initiative, which is a six-week leadership program that the university works with in conjunction with the State Department. So the objective for today is I'm going to kick off asking Sauna a few questions, get the conversation going much like we did six months ago or something, except we did it over three and a half, four hours, so we're going to do it in about a half an hour this time. And then we'll open the floor up for questions that any of you might have as well. So from what I said, let's start with first when this part of your story started. This year, you were, this was what, 2013 in July, is that right? Is that where, no, it's working. First of all, I really would like to thank you all for having me here for Roger Williams University, the library, Adam, Kate, and everyone who worked on bringing me here, because I really deeply appreciate anyone who gives me the platform to speak up about something that not only changed my life, but the lives of millions, and it's still doing this. So really thank you for having me here. And as Adam said, it all started here, actually, in Roger Williams University, and that was on actually July 2nd, 2013. I was here, I just came from Syria like a week before, towards the end of June, to be part of a program at Roger Williams University called Middle East Partnership Initiative Program, and it's basically a program that trains students from Middle East and North Africa about leadership skills and civic engagement. So, you know, for us coming from that region, it's an amazing opportunity to be able to come here on like two months' training. The U.S. was like a very far dream, I would never even think about it. So it happened, and that was during the Syrian Revolution, so the war was happening and still. And my dad said, yeah, you know, it's very needed skills that you're going to learn. It's about, you know, the leadership and civic engagement with so much need in Syria, considering the time that we're going through. So he was very encouraging of me coming here for these two months and hopefully going back home and finishing my school and, you know, just continuing our activism against the government. However, what I came for two months has turned for three years now. And what happened basically that on July 2nd, just a week after my arrival and after I started the program, I just go to class. And remember that day we were meant to meet with the mayor or something from the governor? As a student, we were meant to meet with him and her. Sorry, gender doesn't matter, does it? So we were meant to meet with them and on that day, so we had the morning session there, it was like, you know, dress up because we're going to meet with the governor. And then I, you know, wake up in the morning, go to class here in the building history building. Yes, in that building. And then in the class, we're having the session and I have, you know, I'll have our phones next to us. Sorry for that. But I had my phone next to me and then I received a Facebook message from my sister and Arabic literally saying, our dad's got detained and that was the message. I was in the class and I just opened my phone and I read this message and I kind of like, don't really remember what happened next. I was, I mean, it was very, I don't know even how to word this, but it was very big. I just could not believe it. And I know it's going to happen. Like it was not something like, oh, happened out of nowhere. I think my dad has always been activist or it's something expected, but still it was so shocking. And it's just, I collapsed. Like I think anyone else would do. And I was in the class and they took me out of the class, Dr. Barbara and Kate. And I just, you know, I had my own moments here in that building just trying to, I was just crying all the time and I did not understand what happened, but I couldn't even process this because I had to act up in what I just heard. So for example, I had immediately to contact a friend in the U.S. saying, please, he's a cybersecurity expert. So I was like, please, can you deactivate all my dad's social media and emails and stuff so the government doesn't have access to his activism? I had to think immediately about my dad's, what he asked us to do when he gets the tent. So I mean, you know, I went, I started doing this with support like of Kate and Barbara and started doing the calls and crying and talking with the person and saying what to do, what not to do, and remembering all the passwords and usernames and not being able to be in touch with my family then when my dad got the tent. And you know, I had very tough time here continuing in the program I think for a few days after what happened. And due to his detention, so my mom and my other two sisters who were in Turkey, who were in Syria, sorry, when that happened, they had immediately to smuggle also to Turkey fearing for their lives because the way it works in Syria when someone in the family gets the tent, the other family members get the tent to put pressure on the men, and especially women, you know, they get used as political weapon. So we had no options. My mom and my other two sisters, 13 years old and 23 years old at that time, had literally to leave everything. Everything, when I say everything, I mean everything and just walk and take all kind of, you know, different transportation going through different checkpoints, bribing people smugglers to each Turkey safely. That's all they did. And I lost connection with them doing this because it was an over 17 hours trip, our trip, and I couldn't be in touch with them. So I'm here in the U.S. And they are, I don't know where, like just lost connection. My dad also lost connection, got the tent, and I was here. You know, I just left so many moments of frustration, of anger. I mean, it was beyond sadness, I think. That's why I was here. I had a very tough time. I mean, I think, you know, the first few days, but somehow I was able to continue the program. I was able to continue and I think, like, I did kind of well, did I? And I mean, and now I look at pictures, we took the program after the event of my dad's detention and I still see the pictures and I was like smiling and I say, like, oh my God, how did I do it? And I know, but it just happens, you know, I had, you know, still like another, I think that's when the chapter started, I would say, in Roger William University here and I walked so much on this campus crying and trying to, you know, using the Wi-Fi, trying to connect to my family in Sierra Leone, but I should say I received so much social support when I was here. Well, let's go back before that, and before I forget, Bob McKenna's right in my line of view, for the students who are justice studies students, you can sign in with various faculty. Okay, there's a presentation, sir. So coming back before you got here, you just said that coming here was sort of an opportunity of a lifetime. What was your life before? I remember, so I know, for example, you were very active in the politics, you know, as a student activist in Syria. You've even told me it was sort of maybe one of the greatest moments of your life, you know, period of your life. Can you talk about what life was like for you then, especially for people who may not even be as familiar with what you would have been an activist for and so on? I mean, I come from a very political family even before the revolution broke out in Syria in 2011. So my family has always, especially my dad and uncles, had always been activists speaking up against the government, human rights activists. And this is something so abnormal in our region because we have such dictators regimes and this is like, we don't have freedom of, or political freedom of speech, for example. So I grew up in a very political and globally aware home where I was, you know, I had the chance, gladly, through my dad's attention to learn about so many things and conflicts and topics happening all around the world. I come from a very small village in Syria. I could like be brought up differently, but gradually because of my parents, I was more of a global citizen even when I was in Syria. So when the revolution started in 2011, it's so easy. My family, my dad, my other sister and myself were literally from the first people to be in the streets not only demonstrating but organizing demonstrations and protests against the government. That was in Damascus. I mean, my sister and I, our activism was based in Damascus because we left our town to study in university and the university is in the capital. So we moved from the village to university to study. So our activism was measured there. However, my dad's activism was measured in our village and our town. I mean, definitely he had things to do in Damascus as well. It's the capital. Everyone tried to do those things in the capital, but he was very active in our community back there. So, you know, we protested. We demonstrated. We did any type of nonviolent activism you would imagine. You know, distributing flyers, trying to raise awareness about what freedom means, how the regime is trying to manipulate us. And it's very, very risky to do this in Syria. As a result of all of this, my sister and I got detained by the Assad regime, intelligence in 2011, September. So after six months of the revolution had started then. And I mean, gladly, I was released a few days later. My sister, the same. We were detained with another group of friends who stayed for three, six months and some did not make it out until now. And at that time, I had detention experience that's, you know, like it's very hard. You know, I know how to, and I think this is a very, I know how you can talk about detention experience with such regimes. It's not legal even. It was not like they come and take you to prison. It's not prison. It's a detention facility. It's an integrating facility. It's an investigation facility where basically you get integrated and beaten up and tortured and raped and harassed and everything bad, you know, you could imagine. I know maybe here when you study the Soviet Union history or you study about the intelligence from that region, I mean, if you read about their tools and investigating people and detention, maybe it could give you some idea about what a detainee could go through. And we had our own struggle and our detention, but definitely we were from the blessed one that we were released, right? So many people. You were held in a men's prison, too, weren't you? Yes, yes. There's no, and it's because it's not prison. It's like facility, detention facility. So it's not like there's man and woman. Everyone goes together. But my sister and I were the only girls in the whole thing because it was just so early in the revolution. And, you know, depends on the culture, like sometimes women would not be active immediately. So, yeah, we were from the first people. And at the same time, just actually, no, 10 days before our detention, our dad was detained from our village. So we got detained from Damascus and before he got detained from the village for activism about different things. And so my mom had three of us detained at one time. It was also a very challenging moment, I think, for my mom at that time because the community was putting a lot of guilt and pressure on her. Like, we told you you should not let your girls go out. You know, it's like all this social pressure. And my mom would say, you know, my daughters are not more important than other people's daughters and sons. And those we already have less in Syria from the first day in demonstration. So, I mean, after a few days, I said that we were released gladly and my father got released also like two months later. And you would think, I told you once before, you would think they thought, this really deterred us or, you know, put us in limits. It actually did exactly the opposite. It's just a huge motivation to continue what you really believe in because before we lived it, we heard about it, we read about it. We met political activists who were detained for 20, 30 years during the father regime. And then you leave, literally we lived it, you know, with all its aspects we lived it. So, of course, we were like, are you kidding? Of course, we're going to continue. Now we know for real what we were fighting against. And we continued our activism throughout the next two years, regardless of people calling her civil war. You know, there was so much nonviolent activism, at least from the people side. And as I said, you know, I came here just to do the two months then my dad got detained in 2013. Can you give us a sense how many students were involved in the activism? Was this a huge percentage of the university or a small vocal? Was it a vocal minority? No, it was a huge percentage. If you would see, like, if you go on YouTube and you would look up videos for demonstrations here, you would see a lot of people protested and demonstrated. And this is something the media did not cover very well. Of course, when actually, when the revolution turned to be armed, the media then focused on what happened. But they did not focus on a year and a half of nonviolent protesting in Syria. And I mean, we were student activists, and we, the students actually, in universities on campuses, organized the demonstrations and protests in Damascus that drove the regime crazy. So you were bringing that hope with you here. And the idea was you were going to bring that back. Yes, of course. As I said, that was, I mean, one of the purposes and the reasons my dad encouraged me to participate, you know, we needed the skills. And in Syria, we live in a very, in such a closed community. So we are not exposed to so many skills. When I came here, I discovered so many skills in me, I never thought I have them even. And they feel like so far away. But because of such training and just, you know, someone asked you what do you think? Even in our schools, universities, I went to universities there. We never, we never get asked what do we think. So I mean, definitely exposed me to so many new aspects and point of views. And I was hoping to bring that with me back home. So when you were here, you were a junior? In my school. At your school? I was senior. Senior studying business. And you were what? 20. 22. 22. Okay. I'm 25 now. Okay. I was keeping school. So, so then you're here. You're packed for, you have enough clothes for six weeks. Right. One suitcase or so. Yeah. You have your living just off whatever the money had with you or the scholarship money. And you can't go back. So, so what did you do? What was your, what was your first step? What was your first? Well, first of all, I should ask, did you, did you know anybody else here besides the people you'd met? One person. One friend who I knew from Syria and we were together in protest and he fled managed to flee early because he was highly wanted, wanted. He's the guy I said, it's like a cybersecurity guy. So he was highly wanted by the government. So he fled earlier. So he was in the US and was the only person I knew besides Dr. Barbara and Kate at that time. So, I mean, yeah, when, when my dad got detained and after, you know, my family reached Turkey. So the question started like then what's next? What, what, what are my options? And I don't have options to, to go back and the option to go back to Syria. And I think, you know, staying here was a very, was a very tough decision to make because I literally was with nothing, you know, I was, I was in suitcase for summer six weeks and I had no money because, and even when they took my dad, they took everything and my family fled with nothing and I had nothing on me also. So it was a very, the two months I was during the program, it was this question like what's next, you know, the program is going to end on this date where I'm going to go next. And then, you know, this only, you know, Kate and Barbara helped a lot. Kate gave me winter clothes, you know, which was good. And it was a lot of support and they, you know, linked me to people in the communities and I was in D.C. I was in D.C. then and that friend lived in D.C. So I just contacted him. I was like, you know, the students living to the airport to go back home like at that time and I'm like, have no home to go back any options, you know, and it was literally like this. He came, you know, to the lobby and he was like, with my suitcase standing, saying to everyone goodbye, going back home. I think like this moment I would never forget and then like having to stay here. He took me to one of his friends' couches and I managed to be there for two weeks. But then every two weeks, the question was what's next, you know, and how I'm going to stay here. And, you know, they told me I can't seek political asylum. So I started, you know, with the help of Kate and other people trying to know what political asylum is and how this could be done. And it came out to be a process of worth $4,000 that you need to pay $4,000 to ask for protection and safety in the US. So, and then it literally started for a year and a half in DC. I started moving from a couch to another. So I moved over 13 couches. Among people I don't know. They never met me. I've never known them at that time. And these were mostly Americans. Americans, yeah. It wasn't through the Syrian. Yeah, one Syrian family. And then I got, you know, I lived with a girl, a Syrian American girl for a little bit. But they were mostly like the other couches who were mostly American. And Americans with different backgrounds, you know, they were Jewish Christians and stuff. And how to survive, you know, I literally had nothing. And I did not have anything to offer the people, also money or a rent or something. So I did au pair, like for families who offered, who said like, okay, you can't stay on our couch. I was like, you know, I want to give something in return. Can I help in anything? So, you know, there's a family helped, like in au pair, housekeeping, babysitting. Then through that friend, a Syrian friend, I was linked to an organization called Human Rights First that helps asylum and getting proponent lawyers to apply for asylum because I needed to be legal in this country. So this asylum lawyer helped me in seeking asylum. And through that, I got a work permit. So when I got the work permit, I started working in restaurants for all my time in DC. And, you know, I always say I was so busy surviving all the time, like my worry, my first worry was shelter and food, like where I'm going to sleep every two weeks, every month, I have this question, where I'm going to sleep next. But, you know, through all this process, I met amazing people who have become family for me right now, who are like huge supporters. And, I mean, what was a very, I think this definitely, the whole thing since 2011, but definitely after my death's detention and staying in the US, it definitely shaped who I am. So, I have two questions to follow up. One is you said that you had to learn a lot of new skills, so what were the things to be resourceful that you learned on the fly to maybe realize that you knew but didn't know that you knew? Yeah, I mean, I was saying anything. I did not know, you know, the bank system. Like, we only use cash in Syria, kind of. So, I was like, what credit and debit card? Like, someone tells me, you know, and like the bus system, the metro system, you know, everything was new. So, I needed help. I needed, not like literally help, but I needed someone to guide me a little bit towards all of this stuff. And I had a great friend who every time I would ask her something, she would say, go look it up. Like, it's all online, you know? You don't need to depend on anyone. And I literally, I mean, Google has become my best friend, translation and everything. So, even that style of process, I started learning about it online. You know, it's everything, actually, it's out there online. And I started reading about it. And meanwhile, your mother and your two sisters, your older sister, right? One younger, one older. Right, one, and your older sister's not that much older than you. Yeah, a year. A year and your younger sister was, what, about 12 or 13 at that time? Nine years younger. Yeah. What did you know of what was going on with them? You're here trying to survive day-to-day. They're in order in Turkey day-to-day. Also. And what did you understand of their life and how much of their communication was? I mean, it was also very, they had their own struggle. They were going through their own struggle and the three of them also. In Turkey, the U.S. being here actually was much better than, you know, being there, regardless, like, of the hardship. I mean, it has, you know, downside and good side. Maybe there they have more community. There are so many other Siyan refugees. I was the only one at that time. And so definitely they had their own struggle. They did not have a place to stay. So they stayed. They found, they managed to find old friends of the family. They stayed with for a little bit. Then my older sister started working over 16 hours a day to be able to, like, support financially my mom and my younger sister. And they, you know, and then now they live in a small studio in Southern Turkey. And my 16 years old sister now was 13 when she fled. She has not gone to school in two years. There is no education. And my mom just trying to survive. Also she works in an orphanage for Syrian kids. So I think, and that's, I mean, that's amazing, but that's a lot of mental and emotional work for her. That she doesn't really need to go through. And she, in addition to health problems and, you know, dealing with my dad's absence and not knowing anything about him and her family and fleeing. Like my mom, just an average Syrian woman never really left Syria before. So definitely, like, they had very, very huge struggle. They still go through. And my older sister, she's a journalist. So she was working as a journalist during that time. And she works in Syria. I mean, she's a very, she's a great journalist, I must say. But, I mean, finally, five months ago she managed to flee to Germany. So, but alone. So, gladly she managed to flee to Germany. And she's now in Germany refugee about my mom and my other sister in Turkey. And I really would like here to talk about, like, a little bit about the situation of refugees in Turkey. It's not what you see on the news, you know. Turkey makes headlines about, like, very supportive and great with refugees. They are not. And there's a lot of discrimination against refugees. And being a Syrian refugee in Turkey is the worst that could happen to you. You know, like, if you want to travel, for example, between Rhode Island and Boston, as a Syrian refugee, you need to travel permit from the government to travel in a bus, take a bus to travel internally within Turkey. And now, actually, my family was trying to come to the United States and you can come to a settlement program with the United Nations. And my family, it's a very long bureaucratic process. It's like, they have been registered for three years now. They had gone through interviews and their last interview was supposed to be on July 29, just two months ago. And then they were supposed to be settled here to the U.S. to be reunited with me. And then the interview two days before it gets canceled. And this doesn't happen because it takes them a year to schedule the interview. And so, you know, I was talked with Fox in the State Department. I was like, you know, what's happening? Can you give us any explanation? They did not tell my mom anything. And he literally sent me what's written on our file, like my family case files coming here. And it literally says that the Turkish government would not issue exit permits to Syrian refugees who have secondary education, like my 50 years old mom. I mean, they are banned from traveling because my mom has education. They want to keep the educated one, I think. And so, like, after years of working on it from the U.S. side, then we got Turkey banning them from traveling because my mom has secondary education. So your sister really did have to escape? Yes. Yes. And I cannot go there also. So they can't leave. And they imposed visa on Syrians to come to Turkey. And they, like, I applied, of course, and they would not give it to us. So, you know, we can't go. They can't leave. So speaking of education, you realized that you needed to continue your education to get out of this pattern. And so you ended up at Bard, but how did you want to talk about how you ended up, again, still in the process of seeking the political asylum? Not really much money to your pocket. And you ended up... Yeah, after a year and a half being in D.C., I was granted political asylum. It's a very long process. I'm not going to go through it. But, gladly, finally, I was granted one. And then the question was, what's next? Do I want to spend my life working in a restaurant or babysitting? I knew I had more skills than this. And I, like, my family, like any other family, value so much education. So I knew that my only way to make it out of that bubble is to pursue education. So I started looking for scholarships online, everything I did online. And I came across an institution called the Institute for International Education, IIE. And, basically, they had, like, a survey for, they say, students, rescued students to apply. And then they would match you if you have a good application with one of the universities in the U.S. And I got matched with Bard and they gave me full scholarship to come and continue my education. So I'm finishing in two months, actually, in political science. But, I mean, of course, that education importance sounds a little bit cliche sometimes, how important education is, but it is so important. I mean, I cannot emphasize enough that you would have not seen me here if it was not for the school and being able to continue my education. My English would have not been... I mean, it's not perfect yet, I know. But, you know, it would have not been good enough to tell you what happened. I would have not been able to speak up, to meet so many amazing people, to leave that bubble, to help my sister get his education in Germany, to help my family financially now or anything. It would have not been possible without education. There are institutions in the U.S. providing education for Syrian refugees here. That's something I know that you're dedicated to trying to help. Of course, it's my mission. I have two more questions and I'll open up the floor. The first question is, at that point, things are looking positive for you. I mean, given the situation, you're settled down a little bit, you're getting your education, you're seeing the struggle that other people either see where you're going through, your own family is going through, you still have no word of your father. Well, even now you don't, but certainly at that point. You talked a little bit about some guilt that you felt about actually making this life for yourself while the rest of it. I'm definitely privileged to be here. I was stuck in the U.S. and I think I'm not stuck. I was really lucky. I was blessed to be here when that happened because being here empowered me to do something for my family to other Syrian refugees to the country and to myself. But that made me definitely every night I just feel sometimes guilty because we are in the one family not receiving the same thing. We worked two jobs full-time for two years. Also she did not go to school and now she moved to Germany. My mom going through her own struggle and the other, not talking about the extended family and the serious situation. It comes with a lot of guilt sometimes and feeling paralyzed. Sometimes I just say, how can I help? What can I do from here? My voice actually just speaking up against what's happening against the xenophobic rhetoric in the U.S. speaking up to the importance of bringing more Syrian refugees of how early education just transforms your life after going through such a traumatic event. On that note which sort of leads into the last question I had in my mind was you're often described as the face of the Syrian refugee or the young student Syrian refugee but you did express to me that you didn't want to be the face of the refugee. What do you want? I don't want to be the face of refugees because we are different. Everyone, they have their own face and I think everyone deserves the chance to have the platform to speak about their life and their experience. This also puts on me a lot of responsibility because at the end I'm just a human being and I go through down times and depression and I still deal with a lot of what happened because it did not end. It's still happening. My dad is still detained and we don't know about anything about him. My family is still there and I'm still here. What witnessed in Syria and lived definitely has a lot of psychological effects on me. It's a huge responsibility. If I'm able to do anything I will do it regardless of being called the face or the what they say, my family is an ambassador refugee ambassador or something. I don't want to be called any of these because I feel I'm here. What right I have to speak for people who are still under bombing. I just don't want to undermine their pain. I'm just trying always to be aware of this. Let me open up for questions and if you don't I've got a million more in my head but I don't want to monopolize this thing. If anybody has questions I pass the mic around. Of course this is a well it's funny that it's not funny but last time Sana and I spoke there was a ceasefire and now there's a ceasefire so there's a lot of there are a lot of issues going on within the country right now but questions. Sana thank you very much. I just wanted to tell you that there are people here in Rhode Island who feel a lot of solidarity with you. I'm on the board of Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island which helps resettle immigrants and refugees in Rhode Island and there are a lot of people who believe in the mission of that organization to help your countrymen and women who are here try to integrate into the community and find places to live and get education in English we believe in the importance of education as you do so I just wanted to thank you for telling your story and to let you know that there are people here who believe that anything that we can do to be of help is important. Thank you so much and I think all of you being here just gives me so much hope and support I mean obviously all of you care for being here and trying to listen so thank you so much. You mentioned a little bit how you feel some guilt with the fact that you're here and your family unfortunately hasn't been as privileged in finding safety. You said that was something that you felt did you feel any pressure from your family with them because I know that they are struggling a lot so how did you deal with pressures coming from your family and how did you balance kind of keeping your head on straight and believing in what you were here to do and making a difference throughout all that. Actually I did not have any pressure from the family it was the opposite I was under the pressure that they are so worried about me being here I was like I'm doing so good I was like I can't believe you know for a mom especially in that region and then I'm a girl and moving among all these couches and you know in the US you know my mom for in my mom's mind the US is bigger than actually it is. So definitely it was the pressure that she was always there always and still always worried about me living and surviving and stuff and actually it's the opposite and they were they always she always told me and she still told us and that's you know we made the plan of course we were like okay I would go to school I finish a school then my older sister would go back to school so I take the family responsibility and stuff and we were able to do this plan because I am here my sister went to Germany and now she started school in American University Bard has a campus in Berlin and I talked with the school they offered her scholarship there and she now continuing her studies and I'm finishing in two months and she'll be taking care of the family so I think being here empowered us all Thank you You mentioned xenophobia which is a major issue happening as the campaign for president comes and I wonder I try to find the language to tell people how fortunate we are to have immigrants coming to this country that we've always had a diverse population and the more diverse we are the better but I wonder what your voice what you would say from your perspective I say it as someone who was born in this country and who is also very privileged to be here what would you say is a more recent arrival to this country I mean the xenophobic rhetoric it's something I'm living with every day so of course I go through incidents where people are not very happy of me being here or other Syrians and I think I said I can't realize the importance of my voice because of that rhetoric actually I've been trying to share my life with people just sharing my life you know what I just did with you with so many other people and it has become a very actually effective tool I just figured that the only way to really change people's minds is to have a human face on the thing and to say like you know the six millions you read on the news like I'm one of them just seeing me and then when I share with these people what I go through or what I went through and what my family goes through it's like a family like a friend sharing with you so you would empathize with your friend so they come to forget the fact that the label above my head and I so I really come to discover that telling the story and putting face on the coast is the best tool to educate people on the coast thank you I'm curious do you think is there something that you feel should have been done or could still be done by the international community I'd really like to hear that yes I mean since the early 2011 if the US government administration has taken a different approach towards Syria we would have not had a refugee crisis and I would I'm saying the US because the leader of the world right the US government decided to take this role after the Cold War and obviously all the international community agreed on this and so if you want to be the leader do it correctly and they were not the Obama administration I believe failed on Syria the policy in Syria is so bad if they had put like more limits to Assad and early when it just happened it would have been different if they truly supported the people it would have been different but there are so many political reasons for not supporting the people for example if the Syrian revolution succeeded do you know what does that mean that means it's going to go to other countries in the region people are going to revolt against their own dictators and US and other yeah but look at Egypt and Tunisia it's so different than Syria Syria it's very important because it's geographic location next to Israel we share borders with Israel and we share not only borders we have history and we have a land taken from us to Israel if we succeeded we want to draw land back right and that would initiate a war with Israel and maybe the Palestinians would feel empowered to revolt against their own government is that the thought among the Syrian people of why the I think explaining why Syria has become what it is today it has so many reasons I think this is one of the reasons I mean of course as I said having the Assad regime receiving support from Russia and Iran it's a key reason and here it has to go back to the history between Russia and US I think the cold war did not end and it's just happening right now on Syrian soil and then you know Obama definitely wanted to make that nuclear deal with Iran and to do this he had to compromise Syria you know and they have their other interests in the region so there are so many political reasons that goes into explaining what's happening in Syria today how do they come out of this now what can the international community do at this point oh like a solution for Syria it's a very I mean you know there's just happened a ceasefire we were talking about the American generation decided the ceasefire it's not of course it's not the solution they say they want to come up with a political solution and we also Adam and I were talking about it there is no political solution at this phase without military action like any political solution would take a military action to be implemented because now we have so many different groups in Syria and it's not a civil war because since when the Russians are Syrians or the Iranians or Hezbollah fighters all different backgrounds are Syrians civil war is people from the same country killing each other well now Syria is beyond this if you don't want to call it a world war or like proxy war just call it a war but it's not a civil war I am this might be a challenging question but what do you say to your American peers who are not registered to vote well well I mean I can't believe that I've never voted in my life we don't have this right in Syria we never had even options the notion of citizenship did not really exist in Syria and it existed it was systematically absent by Assad regime and just the fact regardless of what's happening now just the fact that you can't vote and be an active citizen in your community is a privilege and I can't believe people do not realize how important their voice is and then when you if you don't want to vote because you don't know who you're going to vote for okay you don't like both Hillary and Trump that's fair enough but you know there's like the best of the worst if you don't vote someone's going to vote for Trump and he's going to win I would tell them everyone here is listening yes students it's very important if you want to be it's part of being existing in this world is to take action don't say oh I don't like politics well we live in a very political world and you cannot detach politics from your life you cannot be oh I can't worry about the world if you don't follow politics politics will follow you thank you very much thank you for having me here we have a question back here while I walk it back I'm going to ask you we just heard here somebody asking people are here to help support when people say to you what can we do what can we do I mean the fact that you ask yourself and ask me what can we do it's great because you reach the point that you're thinking about taking actions so thank you for reaching that point and there's so much you can do and believing if you don't have anything I tell you you have something you can give and you can do I found what I can do I found that my voice matters and I found that through building you know through education and building my future I'm not only helping myself I'm so much helping others and you know I literally went it goes from a cup of coffee with someone who got just newly restarted just asking for coffee a regular person regardless of them being a refugee don't always entitle them to their refugee status because it's our legal status we did not choose it you know it just lives with us and you know there's at the school you know there's so much you can do you can give scholarships for Syrian students for refugees as a person you know there are families got resettled in the area recently after the administration meeting their 10,000 goal 10,000 Syrian refugee goal if you don't know about it there was a 10,000 Syrian refugee goal to be resettled to the US and the administration just two weeks ago met the goal so now we have 10,000 Syrian refugees around the US and actually they are mainly in this cost I think that's good and so you know reach out to your organizations in your community and ask them how you can help these people and as I said it goes from anything from chatting from a cup of coffee you know take them teach them how the bank work you know help them like open bank account English it's very important and I was telling them I'm able to share my life with you here because I learned English someone empowered me and gave me for free English courses you if you can give any in any way if you can tutor someone who needs English please do because they would not be able to be productive in the community they would not be able to pay their taxes and work and speak up for others if they did not have the language Hi I had two questions actually earlier when you were talking you talked about being a global citizen and I feel like that message was just so powerful only because so many sometimes just forget what's happening on the outside world can you just talk more about what the importance is to being aware of what's going on globally and also my second question was what is the ultimate future for you like what's your goal I have not become so American yet to blend that further I literally like still giving my Syrian things in me some but to answer your last question like my I know what I don't have an ultimate goal I keep of course I spoke for a second of course I'm aiming to continue doing anything that I could do I could give to help other people in the world to give back to everyone that really helped me and helped others this is my ultimate goal so I will find ways based on my skills to do this thing what it is exactly I don't know yet but to answer your question about the global citizenship and the importance of being globally engaged well I would have not been here if I did not learn about this program which brought me here and how did I learn about this program because I was engaged in other global stuff happening so I got to know through some groups that were focusing on things in the US and Europe that oh there is this program that brings students somewhere in the US and the same for you it's important for you to be globally engaged because it opens your mind it changes your life and because we live in the world that's very globalized you know you thought in the US that you are detached from what's happening in the planet because it's US planet right we're very privileged to be actually I don't know if it's privileged to be in such a distant geographic location that really helps the US to be detached a little bit from what's going on in the other part of the world but as we know if you don't want to go for terrorism terrorism came here we live in a very globalized world so you need to be as globalized as the world is to protect yourself to protect your country to educate yourself basically to to be part of this world do you want to be on the side I don't think anyone wants to be like that I don't want to be like that thank you sure that's probably a good place to end it sort of a good word so Sauna thank you for being here I know you're going to stick around for a little bit so if people have questions that oh Kate's going to put on some pitches some pitches hello so I'm Kate Green I'm the director of international program development here at Roger Williams it's great to see so many new faces as well as so many great old faces faculty and staff welcome so this is actually the first official program in a year long set of programings around the quest for refuge exploring not only the current remarkably challenging crisis of Syria but also the long term crises of central east and west Africa the historical and geographically diverse crises of Southeast Asia and also what's happening in Latin America so we have a number of programs that are going to be happening here on campus and this Bristol campus as well as the Providence campus over the course of the coming year and so I urge you all to keep an eye out for the word that gets gets out and about in various ways from the university around these issues and immediately following this I know some of the students are going to be sticking around but as well as anyone else who may be interested we're going to be talking more about that question of what do we do what do we do as a Roger Williams University campus community how can students organize and anyone who would like to say is most welcome but do please keep an eye out for coming attractions around these really really important issues and Sana oh my gosh I love you thank you so much for coming back thank you for having me