-
Saida Aden Said: I still have
this horrific image in my mind.
-
I could see people falling down,
-
gunshots.
-
I was so terrified.
-
Really, I was crying a lot.
-
Someone who knew my father and my mom
grabbed my hand, and he said,
-
"Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"
-
And I was like, "Where's my mom?
My mom? My mom?"
-
Noria Dambrine Dusabireme:
During nights we would hear shots,
-
we would hear guns.
-
Elections were supposed to happen.
-
We had young people going in the street,
-
they were having strikes.
-
And most of the young people died.
-
SAS: We boarded a vehicle.
-
It was overloaded.
-
People were running for their lives.
-
That is how I fled from Somalia.
-
My mom missed me.
-
Nobody told her where I went.
-
NDD: The fact that
we did not go to school,
-
we couldn't go to the market,
we were just stuck home
-
made me realize that if I got an option
to go for something better,
-
I could just go for it
and have a better future.
-
(Music)
-
Ignazio Matteini: Globally,
displaced people in the world
-
have been increasing.
-
Now there are almost 60 million
people displaced in the world.
-
And unfortunately, it doesn't stop.
-
Chrystina Russell: I think
the humanitarian community
-
is starting to realize
from research and reality
-
that we're talking about
a much more permanent problem.
-
Baylie Damtie Yeshita: These students,
they need a tertiary education,
-
a degree that they can use.
-
If the students are living now in Rwanda,
-
if they get relocated,
still they can continue their study.
-
Still, their degree is useful,
wherever they are.
-
CR: Our audacious project
was to really test
-
Southern New Hampshire University's
Global Education Movement's
-
ability to scale,
-
to bring bachelor's degrees
and pathways to employment
-
to refugees and those who would otherwise
not have access to higher education.
-
SAS: It was almost impossible,
as a refugee person,
-
to further my education
and to make my career.
-
My name is Saida Aden Said,
-
and I am from Somalia.
-
I was nine years old
when I came to Kakuma,
-
and I started going to school at 17.
-
Now I am doing my bachelor degree
-
with SNHU.
-
NDD: My name is Noria Dambrine Dusabireme.
-
I'm doing my bachelor of arts
in communications
-
with a concentration in business.
-
CR: We are serving students
across five different countries:
-
Lebanon, Kenya, Malawi,
Rwanda and South Africa.
-
Really proud to have 800 AA grads
to over 400 bachelor's graduates
-
and nearly 1,000 students
enrolled right now.
-
So, the magic of this is that we're
addressing refugee lives as they exist.
-
There are no classes.
-
There are no lectures.
-
There are no due dates.
-
There are no final exams.
-
This degree is competency-based
and not time-bound.
-
You choose when you start your project.
-
You choose how
you're going to approach it.
-
NDD: When you open the platform,
that's where you can see the goals.
-
Under each goal, we can find projects.
-
When you open a project,
you get the competencies
-
that you have to master,
-
directions
-
and overview of the project.
-
CR: The secret sauce of SNHU
-
is combining that
competency-based online learning
-
with the in-person learning
that we do with partners
-
to provide all the wraparound supports.
-
That includes academic coaching.
-
It means psychosocial support,
-
medical support,
-
and it's also the back-end
employment support
-
that's really resulting
in the 95 percent graduation,
-
the 88 percent employment.
-
NDD: I'm a social media management intern.
-
It's related to the communications
degree I'm doing.
-
I've learned so many things
out of the project and in the real world.
-
CR: The structured internship
is really an opportunity
-
for students to practice their skills,
-
for us to create connections
between that internship
-
and a later job opportunity.
-
(Music)
-
This is a model that really
stops putting time
-
and university policies
and procedures at the center
-
and instead puts the student
at the center.
-
IM: The SNHU model
is a big way to shake the tree.
-
Huge.
-
It's a huge shake to the traditional way
of having tertiary education here.
-
BDY: It can transform
the lives of students
-
from these vulnerable
and refugee communities.
-
NDD: If I get the degree,
-
I can just come back and work
everywhere that I want.
-
I can go for a masters
confidently in English,
-
which is something that
I would not have dreamt of before.
-
And I have the confidence
and the skills required
-
to actually go out
and just tackle the workplace
-
without having to fear
that I can't make it.
-
SAS: I always wanted
to work with the community.
-
I want to establish a nonprofit.
-
We advocate for women's education.
-
I want to be someone
who is, like, an ambassador
-
and encourage them to learn
-
and tell them it is never too late.
-
It's a dream.