Essay: Ellie Mahlendorf Essay:
ESSAY: ELLIE MAHLENDORF A STUDY OF THE EDUCATION OF REFUGEES: HOW TRAUMA AFFECTS EDUCATIONAL ABILITY AND HOW EDUCATION LEVEL AFFECTS SOCIETY Upon beginning my service journey, I was overwhelmed with the various programs in Nashville in need of volunteers. Having no idea where to start, I decided to reflect on my past service days and determine when I felt my time was most effective to the community I was helping. I arranged to volunteer with the Nations Ministry Center to enhance my passion for being physically present while assisting others. Nations Ministry Center aids “refugee families in becoming self-sufficient through education opportunities, immigration assistance, and family support.” (Nations Ministry Center). By providing a trauma-aware environment, their goal is to provide a space with a sense of safety and security to permit the educational growth of all children. Specifically, I volunteered at the summer program, which helps refugee children enhance their reading level, regardless of their current academic abilities. Many of the students at Nations come from diverse cultures and countries, and a large portion of them are refugees. A refugee is someone who has fled from their home country due to war, persecution, or even a natural disaster. Approximately “60 million people have been forced to leave their homes” (TED-Ed) to escape these treacherous disasters. However, Donald Trump’s presidency created an all-time low number of refugees welcomed into America. A limit of 18,000 refugees dropped to 15,000 the following year. Joe Biden’s electoral campaign “pledged to set the figure at 125,000 per year if elected” (Miroff). Although some refugees forced out of their homes still manage to live in the same country of origin, countless people have been forcibly displaced outside of their homes, their lands, and across the borders of another country. According to the United Nations 1951 convention, a refugee is “someone who is outside their country of nationality and is unable to return to their home country because of well-founded fears of being persecuted” (UN 1951). The fear of persecution could be spawned due to their ethnicity, faith, nationality, membership in a social group, or even a political opinion. Unfortunately, over half of the world’s population of refugees are children (UNHCR). “An estimated 35 million (42%) of the 82.4 million forcibly displaced people are children below 18 years of age (end-2020)” (UNHCR). Frequently, these refugee children are separated from their families, and many of them “are at risk of abuse, neglect, violence, exploitation, trafficking or military recruitment” (UNHCR). Some children may have the resources to flee their country by various transportation methods, free of danger and violence. However, many children do not possess this capability and therefore must endure draining journeys across countries while being exposed to assault, deprivation, and lack of personal hygiene. The removal from one’s home can cause extreme amounts of trauma, especially to an undeveloped child. The UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, assists refugees in locating their new country. They prioritize women, children, medical conditions, the elderly, and additional vulnerable individuals. This relocation process can sometimes take between one to two years. Regardless of the duration of this process, the entire approach can be highly
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