Refugee Assembly

Two Year 9 students organised a powerful assembly with a courageous young Rohingya refugee, who shared his story of resilience and hope.

Jessie and Aliyah met Yaaseir last year through the One to One Children’s fund, and have been helping to raise money for him to be educated in the UK. Forced to flee Myanmar in 2017 as a teenager, he arrived in the UK in 2020 as an asylum seeker with his journey taking him through Bangladesh, Malaysia and Turkey before the UK. It was only last year that he got his refugee status which has made applying to educational institutions here less challenging. He has been studying in Hull and plans to become a doctor and give back to his community. Jessie and Aliyah wanted to share his inspirational story with the rest of their year group, so planned an assembly.

Yaaseir began with asking us a couple of striking questions: ‘Can you see me?’ – we replied yes. ‘Can you hear me?’ – again, we replied yes. Then he asked: ‘Then why does my government tell me I don’t exist?’ – the room fell silent.  He went on to give a presentation explaining his background, how he was born a Rohingya, and how Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted minority groups in the world.  We asked him about his journey to the UK and how he feels as a refugee now, as well as about his future plans and why he aspires to be a doctor. Movingly, he talked about his mother, who is still in Myanmar; he hasn’t seen her since 2017. He spoke of how she stood by him through his hardest challenges and was always there to make sure he never gave up on his dreams. His responses really made us reflect on the minor challenges we face, and how we get caught up in such the little things. It made us all appreciate what we have and feel inspired to pursue our dreams with a positive outlook; we are grateful to Yaaseir for coming to share his story. 

Jessie and Aliyah in Year 9