Refugees Who Motivate

The KEFI spirit shines brightly in this bleak Syrian refugee camp in northern Iraq. There are kids playing marbles and flying kites. The 21-year-old, mother of three beauty shop entrepreneur, Nalene, transcends her circumstances, and the 16-year-old writer, Payman, pushes me to push my apathetic students who show little interest in school while she sheds tears because her education was exterminated by the Syrian civil war.

While being interviewed by Khaled Hosseini, the author of the international best sellers THE KITE RUNNER, A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS, and AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED, Payman read aloud this phenominal sentence she composed:

"Once upon a time in a dark past, a man like no other, drew a line of brightness onto the future."

Perhaps Hosseini will be that "man like no other." If not him, someone, please, draw a line of brightness onto her future.

An inspiring moment for them both – watch as Khaled Hosseini meets aspiring young writer & Syrian refugee Payman http://t.co/UckgZBlf07

— UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) March 28, 2014