He arrived as a refugee. He found a classroom and education at Dignity. Now he’s heading to Oxford! — Transcript

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1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:00I didn't grow up lucky. I grew up
3. 0:04running, surviving, and hoping. But life
4. 0:09had its own way of turning bad luck into
5. 0:11something else.
6. 0:18I'm Rahil and I'm from Pakistan. When I
7. 0:20was 12, uh we left everything behind and
8. 0:23we migrated to Malaysia.
9. 0:26This was because of the persecution that
10. 0:28my community faces in Pakistan. Our
11. 0:30shops were looted, our houses were
12. 0:32burned and my relatives were jailed and
13. 0:35even killed. Even in school students,
14. 0:38they bullied us because of our
15. 0:40community. They called us names and even
16. 0:42beat us. And I remember thinking, what
17. 0:45did we do to reserve all this? With
18. 0:48nothing left for us in Pakistan, we fled
19. 0:51to Malaysia.
20. 0:54We had no documents, nothing to prove
21. 0:57who you were. And due to this
22. 0:58undocumented status, it was hard for my
23. 1:01mom to find a job. And when she found a
24. 1:03job, she had to work 12 hours a day
25. 1:05earning 800 ringgit per month. At home,
26. 1:08we were living in one room. Uh there was
27. 1:10no furniture. And for the first four
28. 1:12years in Malaysia, our family, we were
29. 1:13sleeping on floor, eating on floor.
30. 1:17In Malaysia, we were safe, but we were
31. 1:19stuck in the same cycle. Tomorrow look
32. 1:21like today, bleak and unfortunate. I
33. 1:24remember thinking that school wasn't
34. 1:26even an option for me because I couldn't
35. 1:29afford it.
36. 1:31But luck found us in many different
37. 1:33ways. Not only was I accepted into
38. 1:36dignity, but both my brother and I, we
39. 1:38were given in power a child scholarship
40. 1:41which allowed us to finish school.
41. 1:44This way my mom was the happiest mom.
42. 1:47She had one less thing on her plate and
43. 1:49she was not worried about her children
44. 1:51getting an quality education.
45. 1:53[Music]
46. 1:57At Dignity, I didn't just find a school.
47. 1:59I found a community where I belonged.
48. 2:02But my first struggle at dignity was to
49. 2:03speak English. I remember sitting in
50. 2:06class being quiet and being hesitant to
51. 2:08speak because I knew that I would make
52. 2:10mistakes. But my teachers, they believed
53. 2:12in me. They saw potential in me that I
54. 2:14didn't see myself.
55. 2:16But when it was all good, lockdown hit
56. 2:18and I felt hopeless again because we
57. 2:21were still in the same room with no
58. 2:22Wi-Fi and I was thinking to myself, how
59. 2:25am I going to catch up? And that's when
60. 2:28dignity offered living program.
61. 2:32In living program, my friends and I, we
62. 2:34stayed together, we eat together, we
63. 2:36cooked together and it gave me the sense
64. 2:38of community once again.
65. 2:42And when the IGCS were near, my teacher,
66. 2:44especially my English teacher, every day
67. 2:46she would mark an article for me and she
68. 2:48will give me a detailed review. And
69. 2:50because of her, I was able to score an A
70. 2:52star in English as well.
71. 2:55But dignity not only equipped me with a
72. 2:57quality education, it also gave me life
73. 2:59skills like hairdressing
74. 3:03and sewing. And I knew if I ever had to
75. 3:06support my family, I knew I could do it.
76. 3:08It did not change my circumstances. It
77. 3:11did change my sense of worth. I knew
78. 3:12that I belonged.
79. 3:15Today I stand at the same place that
80. 3:17once gave me hope. But not as a student,
81. 3:19as a teacher. I teach because someone
82. 3:22once believed in me. And I teach because
83. 3:24I want to tell the students that even in
84. 3:26the darkest places can find a silver
85. 3:28lining. I thought my life was full. But
86. 3:31when I got accepting to Oxford, I
87. 3:33realized that it is just the start of my
88. 3:35journey. My dream is to become a
89. 3:37research scientist. I want to discover
90. 3:39something that benefits humanity
91. 3:41forever. Other than that, I also want to
92. 3:44do something to help refugees access
93. 3:46higher education because only 7% of
94. 3:48refugees globally can access higher
95. 3:50education. And yes, I think this is
96. 3:53possible. I got into Oxford. I got the
97. 3:55reach of scholarship that is only
98. 3:56awarded to two to three students per
99. 3:58year. And throughout that process,
100. 4:00dignity has been working with me. They
101. 4:02help me with my visa application and
102. 4:03raise funds for me. I still feel it's
103. 4:06unbelievable.
104. 4:08To me, dignity is more than just a
105. 4:10school. It is my second family apart
106. 4:12from my mom and my community. It is
107. 4:13where I felt on top of the world.
108. 4:17My life felt like a series of
109. 4:19unfortunate events, being home, poverty,
110. 4:22rejection. But maybe luck isn't about
111. 4:26chance. Maybe it's about who finds you
112. 4:28when you're lost and walks with you till
113. 4:31you find your way again. Without that
114. 4:33support, I don't think I would have
115. 4:36finished A levels, let alone make it to
116. 4:38Oxford. And that's what Dignity did for
117. 4:40me. They gave me a reason to keep going.
118. 4:54[Music]