I want people to know that they are the masters, the queens, kings, and gods of their own story.
Words will never be enough to quantify and qualify the many magnitudes of human-caused destruction.
When you receive an education, you pass it on.
The idea of somebody suffering is really painful to every human. In our collective language, we all too often see those who are suffering as a victim to be pitied, to be feared, and even sometimes to be despised. I want to redirect that narrative.
There are millions of people, refugees, who have experienced the same conflicts and struggles I did. They have the same potential to defy the odds and achieve great things.
As a child growing up in refugee camps, life taught me that many things were impossible. My older sister, Claire, taught me otherwise when her strength and resilience made the impossible possible in the way she worked, behaved, and took control of our lives.
Safety should be a birthright.
Everything I own in my closet has a story. Stuff is not just stuff - things were given to me with love.
My experiences have shown me that when an opportunity bigger than you comes along and you feel unprepared and doubtful, it is important to permit those emotions and let that energy drive you and inspire you to move forward.
I am not a refugee. I sought refuge for many years, but the word 'refugee' does not define me. It just limits me and puts me in a box.
Sharing is wonderful, but giving - I give, you take - often maintains the power status quo.
There are a lot of great people everywhere. And there are also a lot of not so great people.
I was the most tired 11-year-old in the world.
Labels and classifications of any type are not law, nor are they written in stone. It's up to us to be aware of this and confront it and break through it by doing things that shock and surprise people because they thought we could never achieve at that level.
Never allow other people to classify you based on your past and current circumstances, where you were born, your experiences, your gender, or your race.
We cannot afford to lose any more people as a result of hatred.
We need to examine hatred on a global perspective because hatred is everywhere, and it does not matter who you are: you can be a victim of it anywhere and anytime.
Like many American millennials, an 8th grade field trip first brought me into contact with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
It occurred to me that memorials shouldn't be grand. If you really want to honor the memory of a tragedy, you shouldn't create areas of calm reflection. You should make people uncomfortable. Put them in the shoes of those who perpetrated and those who suffered. Then ask, would they be able to forgive in these situations?
Forgiveness allowed me to wash my burdened past away.
