GIP Event: Sama Wareh

This past Tuesday, Global Scholars and members of the Poly community had the opportunity to hear the inspiring Sama Wareh speak. It is incredibly hard to define exactly what she does because she doesn’t really have a specific job or title, but she is essentially a person who takes it upon herself to address issues in the world.

Ms. Wareh is of Syrian descent, but she grew up around Southern California. She and her familiy would travel back to Syria every few years to visit their extended family, which is when her connection to Syria blossomed. She majored in film in college, and she ended up pursuing a graduate degree in environmental studies. For her thesis, she made a documentary about the water crisis in Syria. This enabled her to create personal connection with people all over Syria. 

When war broke out in Syria a few years later, Ms. Wareh was compelled to help refugees as much as she could. She has made multiple trips there since, starting with simply bringing money and medicine to refugees at the Turkish-Syrian border. On one of her latest trips, she helped establish a school for child refugees, and she emphasized the importance of art therapy and providing coping methods for children who have endured trauma. 

Ms. Wareh’s also highlighted the importance of becoming involved in our own communities, which resonated deeply with Taylor and I. Our grant proposal project is working with a local organization to assits local refugees and immigrants with the citizenship process. We hope that we will be able to work with and continue to learn from Ms. Wareh in the future.

Thank you so much to Ms. Wareh, Mr. Caragher and Ms. Diederich, and Alec Walsh, who introduced Ms. Wareh, for such an amazing event!

Sama Wareh, photo courtesy Diego Jaime