Sharing part of experience with FRC students

I had a chance to speak to a group of students from Fort Richmond Collegiate about my experience living as a refugee camp. This even was organised by the Fort Richmond Collegiate, Amnesty International Club . The club is inviting people who were a refugee once and to share their experiences with the students .

The students will ask many questions to the speaker who is sitting around the table . Questions like where are you from ? What was the feeling like leaving your family and country to become a refugee ? When did you come to Canada , what was your experiences as new Canadian . Did you face any discrimination? What was your experience like ? And many more question . There was an idea that I heard made this even possible . Its called "Human Library" .

The main idea of human library is allowing people who have the first hand experience to come and share their experience with the students to help them understand what life as a refugee look like . Most of these students are talking history course and there was a part that talks about Refugee , and refugee crises around the globe . What should we do to change this reality and topic related to that .

I was grateful to participate in this even and share my experience as a refugee for once I was a refugee. I lived in a Kakuma Refuge camp , the largest refugee camp in Kenya . I lived in that camp after I became refugee in 2001. It was a tough experience for this is the first time I left my country, my family and everything I had at the time . I was young and had no experience living in such an environment. To begin with the environment was very harsh for it is between 40-54 degree above through the year .

So living in such environment was not an easy for me . The other main changing aspect living in a refugee camp was adapting to the new environment, living with thousands of other refugees came from a different country . It was hard for me to adapt to the food we were provided initially. I didn't like it first , then to find the food I was familiar with I had to walk 14 K . Then I have to walk back again in the afternoon to my temporary living area . Off course , we were sleeping on the floor outside using the matters we were given when we arrived in the refugee camp . Then we were given a tent to live with a group of students. The whole experience was not as easy experience , but made me to become who I am now . It was part of my experience for I lived as a refugee for sometime in Kenya . Now , I am hear living in the most safe place where I have the basic things I need to live and opportunities to learn , grow and contribute to the community I am living .