Refugee to Advocate: Galli’s Journey

June 18, 2024

Thanks to her family, Galli exchanged the refugee camp in Algeria for the campus of UWC Maastricht.

Galli has been born and raised in the refugee camp, because of the situation in the Western Sahara. She found it nothing more than normal, although now she knows it’s not normal to live in a basic home with no electricity.

Family

One thing Galli is immensely grateful for is her family. Especially her mother, as she came with the idea to apply for a program in English, which turned out to be UWC! Thanks to the Female Empowerment Project (https://www.uwcmaastricht.nl/femaleempowerment) Galli received a scholarship when she got accepted into UWC Maastricht, which made her really excited to start.  She wouldn’t have made it without the positive energy and support from her mom and her other family members back in Algeria.

At UWC Maastricht, she also found another family, a family full of her friends and other people she met along the way in her journey. The stories they shared, Galli will keep them with her forever.

Growth at UWCM

The transition from her small camp community in Algeria to a campus with so many different people and cultures was tough at first, but soon it turned into nice opportunities for Galli. She saw how nice and open the world could be. That’s how her growth started, in her own words: “this journey really made a lot of difference in my personality, in how I see the world and how I see the things from a different perspective.”

This growth in her personality changed her for the better and she wants to continue growing. She will do this in the US, where she will study Political Science. Through this study Galli wants to become the person who rises the voices of her people of the Western Sahara and fight for their rights!