22 Jan “I PROMISE TO WORK HARD”/IRELAND
Within the scope of the JRS Change program, a student at our St. Raphaela’s Secondary School in Dublin wrote the following reflection and made a promise to work hard after meeting Ghazal, a Syrian refugee living in Ireland.
“Following meeting and listening to Ghazal, and learning about Filimon, I have really taken notice of my privilege. Going home after school the day Ghazal talked to us, describing her struggles about immigrating to Ireland I felt very lucky surrounded by the walls of my safe, warm home. I thought about how I’ve never even had any trouble with getting an education and had never really thought about it before, I know now how much I take everything for granted. But if Ghazal taught me anything it was to study hard and do yourself justice in terms of your education because if you have the privilege don’t waste it.
I want to work harder now, to almost prove to myself I deserve these privileges and opportunities. I don’t want my time to go to waste. I will try not to forget about Ghazal and Filimon’s struggles, but use their stories as inspiration to keep myself humble and hardworking.”
Despite the setbacks inherent to the pandemic, we continue to pledge to provide this JRS Europe program to the students of our school in which about 90 have already participated.
Irene Guía, aci
