This past Thursday I went into Philly to hear an author talk about her new book. I was genuinely surprised by how affected I was by the author's lecture. Melissa Fleming’s book A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival was recently released. The book is about a refugee named Doaa Al Zamel. Fleming has done a TedTalk, and works at the UNHCR(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The girl that she wrote the story about is true. It’s a story about how first her family fled a war-torn Syria to Egypt. Her fiancé and her managed to scrap all that they had to get on a boat to Europe. Sadly, tragedy struck and many died. The boat wasn't a cruise ship, like it was promised, was caring 500 people. After it was rammed by another boat the 500 dwindled down to 100 which finally went to 11 people. Doaa managed to survive. After being rescued she became famous. She is more than likely even more famous because of the book soon to be published worldwide. Her story is similar to many others, but she still matters.

I had classes all day and was really exhausted by the time we got to the Free Library in Philly. It was about 8 when she started speaking. I barely remembered what the topic of the book was. I figured it was about immigration or refugees. During my high school years, I knew about refugees, immigration, and asylum seekers. I felt that I had heard this speech about a million times before. It’s sad that I felt this way. It might’ve been the fact that I’m a romantic that made me sit up and listen. Apparently Doaa was in a sense courted by a guy. She didn’t like him at first. She was focused on surviving. He was focused on her and surviving too. He “won over” her family and then eventually her. They were both on the boat to Europe, but he sadly didn’t make it. She was nineteen at the time. I’m currently nineteen and cannot imagine going through what she went through. Her story hit home because she was my age. I’m very fortunate to not have to flee bombs and guns while walking to class. I am so lucky.

Refugees’ need our help. Without help they may either die in their war – torn country or on the way out of there. We need to educate people. We need to donate whatever we can. They shouldn’t be left out in the cold just because our country is divided at this present time. We need to not make the same mistakes as our ancestors. We should help not because it’s the Catholic thing, but because it’s the human thing to do. We should all help. Even if it’s just writing an article to encourage awareness of this on-going tragedy.

Here's Melissa Fleming's TedTalk