#MoreThanARefugee is not only a hashtag
Thoughts for World Refugee Day
#Morethanarefugee is not only a hashtag. It’s a statement that all the refugees in the world are now screaming to deliver.
60 million people worldwide have been forced to leave everything behind them; everything they have ever built, every memory, every belonging. They have been forced to throw themselves into the unknown and move towards an uncertain destiny. Do you think they are cowards? Cowards for what — for leaving their countries for escaping death?! I believe that every person in the world would chose life, even if the life he is choosing is an uncertain one.
But there always has been and will always be hope. The everlasting candle of hope is forever fuelled by this word “refugee”.
Whether you are a refugee in your own land or someone else’s land we are here to tell you that you are more than a number, you are more than just “one in 60 million”, you are #morethanarefugee. We know that you have a story, that many of your stories are tales of success and achievement, and we want your story to reach the world!
For all the world leaders out there and for all those people who think refugees are nothing but a burden, I want to tell you one thing and that is to keep in mind that the most beautiful flower of all is the one that blossoms in adversity. So please do not step on it. Do not step on a dream and on a fellow human, on humanity.
Help us make the whole world know that people who have been forced to flee for their lives are much, much, much #morethanarefugee.
_______________
By Mona Hassan, Global Youth Ambassador from Lebanon. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are excluded from many basic rights. As a Palestinian, Mona knows what it means to have to fight for a quality education, and to be seen and treated as #morethanarefugee. She is now a 5th year medical student.
