The session that was held on December 4 at the Robert Bosch Stiftung Office in Berlin began with a video message from Dr. Tom Catena, 2017 Aurora Prize Laureate, who could not leave the “Mother of Mercy” hospital in Nuba Mountains, Sudan, where he is the sole surgeon in a war-ravaged region. Talking about the challenges of the migration crisis, he addressed a fundamental challenge. “I think it's imperative that we include the thoughts and opinions of the host nations, that we address their fears, that we understand what they mean when they say they fear for their loss of identity and their loss of culture. I think their fears need to be calmed and they can eventually come over to decide that integration is the only way to go, that this, in the long run, will be helpful to them and their countries.”
Vartan Gregorian, President of Carnegie Corporation of New York, emphasized the importance of the way the global community views those who have been forced to migrate. “Refugees are not a category, they are human beings. When you say refugee, you dehumanize them. When we say dislocated people, we dehumanize them. These are human beings trying to survive with aspirations, with goals, dreams, relatives, love, separation. That's one of the things that inspired me to join these efforts,” he said.
Jamila Afghani, founder and Executive Director of Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organization in Afghanistan, shared her own story as a refugee and how the challenges she faced are reflected in her work. “I started my social work as, personally, I went through that. I was nurtured in that environment, so I could understand the problems of other refugees, my fellow Afghans in the refugee camp.”
Highlighting the necessity of joint global efforts and speaking about the impact of the Aurora Prize, Marguerite Barankitse, founder of Maison Shalom and REMA Hospital in Burundi, said, “If those young people (in the refugee camps of Rwanda) do not return to university what they will do? They will take weapons and they will go back (to Burundi) to avenge. Today they celebrate that they can go to universities, the moms can feed their children. These are the seeds and if everybody can plant a seed we will change the world.”
To showcase the benefits of efficient integration of refugees in host societies. Ali Aslan introduced young people from conflict zones. "Here we have three very accomplished, highly intelligent individuals who made their way to Germany."
Osasu Osayande from Nigeria, Amr Al Jaber from Syria and Elizabeth Kaku Gimba from South Sudan spoke about their journeys of multiple migrations and the process of their integration in the diverse community of United World College Robert Bosch college in Freiburg.
Laurence Nodder, Rector of UWC Robert Bosch College said: “UWC brings together a diversity of people. We call it a deliberate diversity – people who under no circumstances would have the opportunity of living and learning together. Through this process, we discover our common humanity and sense of optimism and what we can achieve together in the world.”
This first session set the mood for the following day’s discussions. Vartan Gregorian encouraged participants to engage in dialogue, to know each other. “Dialogue is essential. Don't be intellectual isolationists or social isolationists because out of this comes alienation, out of this comes desperation,” he concluded.