University student to travel to Kenya for six-week placement

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Monique Miller got a glimpse of refugee life watching a documentary about two Sudanese refugees able to survive a brutal civil war and escape to a refugee camp in Kenya.

Now Miller, a North York resident and Guelph University student, will be experiencing first-hand the challenges of living as a refugee as she departs for Kenya this week with seven other undergraduate students across Canada.

"We all have individual placements," said Miller, staying at Kakuma camp in the East African country for six weeks.

It's all part of the Refugee Study Seminar offered by World University Service of Canada (WUSC), an organization that has linked post-secondary campuses with international development initiatives for six decades.

Through the support of students from 70 Canadian university and college campuses, more than $1 million is raised each year to sponsor about 50 refugees to study in Canada.

The Canadian students departing for Kenya will help prepare the refugee students who have been selected this year to come to Canada to receive their post-secondary education.

Miller said she knows how important education is to change things for the better.

"I'm the first generation in my family to be in university," said Miller, adding she wanted to provide that same opportunity for the refugees she'll be meeting.

Dahabo Abdi has already benefitted from WUSC's student refugee program, having arrived from the Kenyan refugee camp to Brandon University in Manitoba last year.

She recently transferred to Carleton University in Ottawa, pursuing her studies in biochemistry - an opportunity that is rare in the camp she fled to with her family from Somalia.

"It's a life-changing experience," said Abdi, of her time as a refugee. "You have to learn how to survive. It has taught me something you can never learn from any school."

But Abdi, who is also part of the WUSC group travelling to Kenya, is looking forward to sharing her new experiences with those back at the refugee camp.

"My main objective is to be a good example," she said. "Coming to Canada and pursuing an education was something I always was looking forward to. I'm really grateful."

In preparation for their trip, Abdi, Miller and the rest of the group attended pre-departure orientation sessions at York University this past week, being briefed on such topics as Kenya's refugee policy and recent Kenyan politics.

This year marks the arrival of the 1,000th refugee student to be sponsored by Canadian students through WUSC.