Personal Experiences and Stories
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Personal Experiences and Stories of Young Refugees and Asylum Seekers
This page provides access to a series of YouTube presentations by young refugees and asylum seekers including celebrities on their lived experiences and journeys reaching to safety and growing up in the UK and/or the host country.
The YouTube videos below have been researched and compiled by Dr Farkhondeh Farsimadan, a Chartered Counselling Psychologist, who is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and an HCPC registered psychologist.
Please use the links below to view these YouTube presentations.
Links
If you had to flee your home what would you take?
- What They Took with Them:
UNHCR, 2016, 5:25 minutes
Video presentations of Nadia Nadim Afghan-Danish international footballer talking about her experience fleeing Afghanistan at the age of 11 to a refugee camp in Denmark in 2000 after her father, a general in the Afghan National army, was killed by the Taliban:
- Refugee to professional soccer player to doctor: The Nadia Nadim story:
Major League Soccer, 2022, 42:56 minutes
- ‘The Taliban killed my father’- Footballer Nadia Nadim on fleeing Afghanistan as a child:
BBC Sport, 2021, 4:35 minutes
A BBC interview with Tousin or Tusse Chiza, a 19-year-old from Democratic Republic of Congo who a decade ago was granted asylum in Sweden, representing his adopted country at the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam in May 2021
- Eurovision 2021: Tousin- from child refugee to Swedish pop star
BBC News, Newsbeat, 2021, 3:31 minutes
YouTube video of Alphonso Davies Canadian international footballer talking to BBC Football Focus about his journey from Ghanaian refugee to teenage Bayern Munich star:
- From Ghanaian refugee to teenage Bayern star
BBC Sport, 2020, 3:58 minutes
Alphonso Davies becomes the first footballer to take UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, 2021, 1:24 minutes
YouTube video presentation focusing on the life of three inspiring refugees:
- THREE INSPIRING REFUGEES (North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria)
Drew Binsky, 2020, 14:43 minutes
Al Jazeera REWIND follows Palestinian refugee Mohamad Fahed who won Horizon Foundation scholarships to Eton College and UCL in London & now works as an engineer in the UK
- Mohamad at Eton: from refugee Camp to UK Boarding School, REWIND
Al Jazeera English, REWIND, 2018, 25 minutes
YouTube video presentation of acclaimed American author Khaled Hosseini who knows what it's like to be a refugee
- Khaled Hosseini tells his refugee story:
UNHCR, 2014, 5:14 minutes
YouTube video presentation of UNHCR goodwill ambassador Cate Blanchett meeting successful business owner and refugee Razan Alsous
- Business owner and refugee talks about her successful business:
UNHCR, 2019, 4:01 minutes
YouTube video of Douglas Booth UNHCR high profile supporter meeting trainee pilot and Syrian refugee, Maya Ghazal
- Becoming the first ever female Syrian refugee pilot:
UNHCR, 2019, 4:06 minutes
YouTube video presentation of Jawahir Roble "JJ" UK's first FA registered Muslim female referee
- From refugee to the UK’s first FA registered Muslim female referee:
Paypal UK, 2019, 2:32 minutes
YouTube video of Lovren LFC footballer telling the harrowing story of how his family were forced to flee the Bosnian war
- Lovren: My Life as a Refugee:
LFCTV, 2017, 22 minutes
YouTube video of Rita Ora: "As a refugee you never want to hear the words 'get out'."
- Rita Ora: My experience as a refugee:
Channel 4 News, 2015, 4:13 minutes
YouTube video of model Halima Aden visiting the refugee camp she was born in
- Halima Aden visits Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya:
Teen Vogue, 2018, 13:43 minutes
YouTube videos of the author Viet Thanh Nguyen sharing his experiences as a refugee
- The Refugees' Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen shares memories of being a refugee from South Vietnam:
Late Night with Seth Meyers, 2017, 3:14 minutes
- Jeffrey Brown speaks with Pulitzer-prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen about his book "Refugees", which explores life caught between two worlds:
PBS NewsHour, 2017, 5:56 minutes
YouTube video of Ger Duany, a Sudanese actor, model and speaker on being a child soldier, refugee, and now a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador for the East and Horn of Africa
- Ger Duany, from one of Sudanese 'lost boys' to a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador:
TEDx Talks, 2016, 20:05 minutes
From a Syrian war zone to work experience in Parliament: one refugee's story
- Until three years ago Ishmael was living in the infamous Calais jungle, now he is getting ready to sit his final term at university in the UK:
ITV News, 2018, 3:12 minutes
YouTube video of Anh Do Australian comedian describing his experience of being attacked by pirates on his way to Australia as a Vietnamese refugee child and how the experience inspired him to write a book
- From a Vietnamese refugee child to one of Australia's favourite comedians and author: "The Happiest Refugee":
ABC TV & iview, 2011, 7 minutes
YouTube videos of Jamal Osman, now a journalist, personal journey on the refugee road:
- On the refugee road - Jamal Osman's story (Part 1):
Channel 4 News, 12 minutes
- On the road to South Africa: A migrant's story with Jamal Osman:
Channel 4 News, 12:27 minutes
- Loneliness and pain on Mtwara Beach:
Channel News 4, 1:46 minutes
- I had no money -- so I could not eat:
Channel 4 News, 2:17 minutes
- Pretending to be deaf to survive:
Channel 4 News, 1:45 minutes
- The Somalis did not help me -- but one man did:
Channel 4 News, 1:57 minutes
- South Africa: I'm lucky, but others still struggle:
Channel 4 News, 2:01 minutes
YouTube videos of Abdi-Aziz Suleiman's lived experience as a young refugee growing up in the UK:
- How I became a refugee:
The University of Sheffield, 1:05 minutes
- I am a 'bad' migrant:
The University of Sheffield, 1:22 minutes
- Thinking like a refugee:
The University of Sheffield, 1:37 minutes