This [2015] year’s Glocal cohort has many diverse and talented individuals. We  interviewed three Glocal students who have not had an easy path in  life and who have overcome colossal obstacles to devote their lives to  international development and making the world a better place. 

Meet Amal, Annett and Sylvain, 3 inspiring Glocal students with powerful messages of hope. 

We asked our outstanding colleagues what  advice they have for people in difficult situations  to enable them to help themselves as well as  what messages they have for us all. 

Amal Khayat 

With her father in prison for 16 years, a mother working full time to pay the bills, family feuds,  and living on the brink of poverty, you might  think Amal, from the village of Silwan in East  Jerusalem, was destined to fail. However, not  only did Amal rise up from the hardships of her  childhood to receive a BA in Pharmacy and  now work towards her MA at Glocal, Amal is a  beacon of positive energy, encouraging attitude,  and an emissary of hope. 

“Look where you are not supposed to look, to  the things that nobody wants you to know. Make your own narrative. When my dad was against  me coming here I told him that I am my own  person and this is my choice and this is how I run my life.  

We are not created to be followers;  each one of us is different. These  differences are what make us unique. We should try to make peace with ourselves  and our differences, [only] then you can make  peace with the others. And also, try to put  yourself in someone else’s shoes, and to  imagine what they have been going through  all of their lives. That is how we become more  tolerant, open-minded and not judgmental. The  world is not black and white; it has so many  rainbow colors, and every color will take you to  a place of which you have never dreamed. So  just go and be yourself, the one you know, not  the one who other people say you are or what  they want you to be.” 

Annet Apio 

At the tender age of 12, Annet lost both her parents to AIDS. When she was 17 she found  out that her twin brother had been born with the  disease. Sent to live with a dispassionate aunt  in another part of Uganda, Annet was sent to  one of the worst schools in the country where  she developed low self-esteem and the belief  that she was dumb. But after learning about the  health situation of her brother, Annet turned her  life around, studied hard, and graduated high  school with honors. With the constant threat of  not being able to pay tuition, she taught herself  to make jewelry, opened a jewelry shop (which  she ultimately left because of conflicts with her  former business partner), and completed her  BA in Social Work. Later, she worked as an  administrator for an INGO operating in a slum  community in Kampala, Uganda. 

I have learned that challenges are a part of  life and it is up to you to choose whether this  challenge is going to break you or make you. By  that I mean it will be hard and painful, you have  a lot to lose, but you just have to choose. Losing  doesn’t mean you have failed. And I know from  losing my parents, from the pain of losing my  business (it was my baby!), and living in poverty  for most of my life, that from these experiences I  actually learned a lot more than I lost. I learned  to be flexible and to take advantage of even  the smallest opportunity that presents itself.  Do not be afraid to take risks. I struggled a lot  with my family deciding that I will move out of  the home because I wanted to be independent.  It was difficult for them because they needed  me to help out at home, but I needed to follow  my dreams. I had to take a risk, moving away  from home. I had nothing; I slept on a floor for  a while. But I knew that you have to take a risk,  otherwise if you’re afraid so much to take a risk  you will remain at the same position in life and  you won’t be able to achieve anything.  

I believe in doing good—not for an  immediate benefit, but I believe that  to be able to give is enough to receive  already in itself. You don’t have to see  a result immediately or expect return by helping others, but it is the only way that many people have been reached.  

Even though they did not have hope, they found  hope. They become hopeful when someone  says something good to them, or by receiving  a meal that they would not otherwise have  received. It changes so much about someone in  a way that you will never understand. You just  don’t know how much you are doing by giving  and you cannot measure its value.  

It does not matter what your background is or how difficult the situation is for you. You can be  whatever you want to be. Challenges should  be faced head on. That is what makes the  difference. A challenge should not stop you; it  should be the reason for you to excel.” 

Sylvain Ruhamya 

With a law degree under his belt, and at  the beginning of a democratic election after  decades of dictatorship in his hometown of  Bakavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo,  Sylvain was excited for the future. Everything  changed suddenly one day in 2006 while  Sylvain was disseminating information about  how democracy works and about the steps  people could take in order to make the elections  more fair. On that fateful day, then 25 years  old, Sylvain was kidnapped, tortured, and left  for dead on the side of a dusty road. It took a  month for the Catholic priest who found Sylvain  to nurse him back to health. Sylvain was  believed to be dead and if he were found to be  alive, government or rebel forces would want  to kill him; he was a wanted man. So, dressed  as Christian monk, Sylvain was spirited off to  Tanzania and then to Kenya where he found  himself as a refugee in a refugee camp. Despite  losing so much of his former self—family, friends,  language, and career—Sylvain taught himself  English and taught English and his native  French to other refugees. While being employed  as a teacher for refugees, Sylvain worked  closely with the Israeli NGO IsraAID, and one of  their team members directed him to the Glocal  program. 

“The realization that I was a refugee in Kenya  was a turning point in my life. I started to live positively. I was in a place  where I saw violence and I really  think about it every day. Social  justice, equality, human rights,  those are things that are always  in my mind. I don’t like people  living with violence, victims of  injustice and inequality, because  I believe that in the world there  is a place for everyone. We  have a lot of resources. There  is no reason for some people  to have more and others to  have less. I believe in the equal  distribution of the resources of  the world and this is one the  causes that speaks to me, and  for which I am even ready to die.  

People should live, and the  resources that are there  should make life easy to live, not to make people  victims of inequality. I cannot say that self-reliance is  something that I did on purpose.  I did not plan on leaving my  country. I did not plan to look  for asylum. It just happened.  I realized that I survived. It is  difficult to keep a positive mind  even in a difficult situation.  I have always believed that  everything that happened  in my life is for a purpose. I  keep asking myself why these  things happen and take it as a  learning experience. I don’t start  blaming anyone but just look at  challenges as tools to build me.  Anything that does not destroy  me makes me stronger and that  is what keeps me going. Some  challenges actually made me  stronger than before.“