For World Refugee Day last year, Mohammad Shehadat shared his inspiring story with us.
A young Syrian refugee living in Jordan, he was able to pursue his studies in business through a UNESCO scholarship programme, and also help other Syrian refugees resume their education and gain new skills.
A member of the UNESCO Global Youth Community, the 27-year-old is currently working with the Kofi Annan Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland. We caught up with him ahead of World Refugee Day 2023.
How would you describe your journey since fleeing your native Syria?
“Everyone agrees that fleeing war and injustice means that there is no longer any chance to stay safe in the country. Like anyone who fled war, I always dream of being able to be in the country where I was born and where I spent my childhood. For me, this feeling is not comparable to any other feeling.
During my asylum-seeking journey in Jordan for 10 years, I faced many challenges and difficult circumstances as someone living in a host community, itself suffering from many challenges. It made me think differently. It was a long period, but it paid very fruitful and positive upshots.
I learned how education must be an initial right to all especially the refugees because it's the most thing that can help in building their lives again, and how it could have a strong impact on their future, this experience taught me and led me to be a global citizen who can think outside the traditional framework towards life, community, and the future aspects. So, it's time to act and be an initiator.
How exactly did you take action and become an ‘initiator’?
In 2019 I launched the Youth for Peace Initiative, which is led by refugee youth to promote peace-building values and to transform young people into leaders and global citizens who can make positive changes.
In 2022, When I participated in the Kofi Annan Changemakers Programme, I launched the 100 Global Citizens Project. The aim was to prepare Syrian and Jordanian youth to play leadership roles as global citizens with a knowledge base of different cultures, ideas, and ways of thinking. The project provided access to learning, discovery, and capacity-building resources.
At Youth for Peace Initiative, we also launched the Own War Project which uses multimedia and graphic design to capture refugee experiences to spread awareness and increase refugee representation in a world that severely lacks it. We didn’t want the stereotypical representation of refugees only portrayed studies and statistics. We wanted to bring out the people out of the numbers, shed light on their successes and tell their stories.
What keeps you determined and passionate about what you do?
Experiencing the life of displacement and lack of many needs was a difficult challenge for me. But it taught me that success is not easy, but it is possible when we plan properly to reach it as well as working hard and looking for it as a constant motivation to act, learn and thinking as a responsible leader based on a long and hard personal life story and experience.
I am gaining more and more experiences, today I am a participant in the first cohort of "Learners to Leaders: Nurturing Change Makers through Global Citizenship Education" at Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens in Vienna, Austria.
I'm determined and aspire to make the Youth for Peace initiative a cross-border platform and a strong voice for young refugee peacebuilders and change-makers as well as to promote that refugee youth are not powerless, but dreamers and fighters and they can do many things and achieve real change only once they get the opportunities.
I’m grateful to Jordan, which was the main base of my success. I'm also grateful to Switzerland, which welcomed and provided me with the protection and support that changemakers need.
- More on UNESCO work in education in emergencies
