Refugee speakers take the stage in Stockholm at UNHCR’s Pass the Mic event
Refugee speakers take the stage in Stockholm at UNHCR’s Pass the Mic event
Glädjekören, a choir formed of people with refugee backgrounds perform a song about exile ©Ivanna Stytsun
The Refugee Speakers Programme is run by UNHCR with support from TEDx. It gives people with refugee backgrounds the opportunity to develop their storytelling and public speaking skills. The programme aims to create space for stories that too often go unheard. When refugee situations are discussed, the focus is often on numbers. The numbers matter, but they do not tell the full story. Behind every number is a person, a family, and a life shaped by experiences of forced displacement.
Galyna, from Ukraine, shares her story about being forced to leave her home twice, on the Maxim Theatre stage ©Ivanna Stytsun
Adam, from Sudan, shares his story about fleeing Sudan and his experiences in Libya, on the Maxim Theatre stage ©Ivanna Stytsun
During the programme, participants take part in workshops and receive individual coaching from TEDx coaches in preparation for sharing their personal stories. Pass the Mic is the closing event where the microphone is handed over to the speakers. This year, the audience heard from Judy from Syria, Adam from Sudan, Hamida from Afghanistan, Faridah from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Galyna from Ukraine. Two-thirds of the world’s refugees come from four of the five countries represented at the event: Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Ukraine.
Judy, shares her story about fleeing Syria after being sentenced to death, on the Maxim Theatre stage ©Ivanna Stytsun
Judy shared her story of being sentenced to death in Syria and her escape first to Lebanon and then to Sweden. Hamida shared the story of her family being separated from her eight-year-old brother in the chaos of crossing the border between Iran and Turkey, and of being reunited only years later. Galyna spoke about fleeing conflict in Ukraine twice, first in 2014 when she was displaced within the country, and again in 2022 when Russia’s full-scale invasion forced her to leave Ukraine. Adam shared his long journey to safety, beginning with fleeing the 2003 genocide in Darfur. After spending many years in refugee camps in Chad, he was later imprisoned in Libya, where he was starved and left close to death, before eventually being resettled to Sweden. Faridah’s story was read by actress Hannah Ardéhn in her absence. Faridah was subjected to child marriage at the age of 13 and gave birth to her first child at 15, experiencing complications linked to giving birth so young. She spent many years fleeing conflict before eventually reaching Sweden.
Hamida, from Afghanistan, shares her story on the Maxim Theatre stage about fleeing, and her journey through Iran until she arrived in Sweden where she is now at university ©Ivanna Stytsun
The evening also featured journalists Martin Schibbye, Emma Bouvin, Edgar Mannheimer, and Anna Hedenmo. Each of them introduced one of the speakers and shared reflections from their own careers covering humanitarian crises and forced displacement. In her introduction of Galyna, Anna Hedenmo shared a poem called Refugee Blues by W. H. Auden, including the lines: “Once we had a country and we thought it fair, look in the atlas and you'll find it there: we cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.” Edgar Mannheimer, who grew up in the Middle East, shared lyrics from the song Ya Rayah, a well-known Algerian song about emigration, regret, and longing for home.
Refugee speakers, their coaches from TedX Stockholm, the journalists who passed the mic,
the moderators, and UNHCR colleagues share a moment to celebrate ©Ivanna Stytsun
Although the speakers came from different parts of the world, their stories reflected shared experiences. They spoke about the devastation of leaving home, and about how reaching safety does not mean that the trauma of what they have lived through disappears. Another theme that stood out throughout the evening was the importance of kindness from strangers, and how small actions can make a life-changing difference. The stories included the person who cared for Hamida’s brother when he was lost, those who gave Adam warm soup and milk when he was close to death in Libya, volunteers in Romania who offered toys to Galyna’s children, and families in Sweden who opened their doors to Judy when she arrived. Pass the Mic was a reminder of the power of solidarity, and of what each of us can do to support people around us, even through simple acts of connection, such as inviting someone for a fika and asking how they are doing.