A Teenager Starting Over in Canada

When I met Ibraheem in 2014, he had already endured more as a 12-year-old than most of us could ever imagine: the terror of Assad’s barrel bombs, the loss of his mother and four siblings, and the trauma of being carried in his father’s arms on a desperate, eight-month search for medical help, which brought him to the refugee center in Jordan where we sat together one afternoon.

Four years later, after the filmmakers of this short documentary shared it with me, I am struck not just by the confident young man he has become—walking the halls of his new high school, calling out answers in class — but also by the clarity and determination in his heart: “We went out against our will, and we shall return with our hope.”

Since 2011, war has displaced half of the Syrian population, and almost half of those forced from their homes are children. Ibraheem’s resilience is a bright spot in this dark time. By so bravely sharing a window into his life, he gives a voice to these millions of kids whose stories we will never know.

–Samantha Power, May, 2018