This video focuses on changing the narrative around refugees, particularly young refugee women in Nairobi, by highlighting their potential and addressing common misconceptions. The speaker emphasizes that refugees, like anyone, have hopes, dreams, and immense potential that can be realized when given the right opportunities to develop skills, heal from past trauma, and gain self-confidence. By doing so, they can confidently step into their futures.

In her efforts as the CEO of a refugee-centric organization, the speaker stresses the importance of fashion as a transformative tool for identity, integration, and empowerment. Through vocational training in fashion design, mental health support, and offering dignified livelihood opportunities, the organization helps refugee women gain independence and solidify their sense of self. They also incorporate mentorship and internships, which have led to significant employment opportunities and entrepreneurial ventures among the participants.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. misconceptions [ˌmɪskənˈsɛpʃənz] - (noun) - Wrong or inaccurate ideas or beliefs about something. - Synonyms: (misunderstandings, fallacies, myths)

There are a lot of misconceptions and negative stereotypes about refugees, but our experience is that providing these opportunities can help to flip that narrative.

2. expatriate [ɪksˈpeɪtrieɪt] - (noun / adjective) - A person who lives outside their native country, or related to such persons. - Synonyms: (foreigner, non-native, immigrant)

So why was I walking through beautiful modern airports like this one in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, called an expatriate, welcomed with open arms, compared with someone who's fleeing conflict and hardship...

3. transformative [trænsˈfɔːrmətɪv] - (adjective) - Causing a marked change in someone or something. - Synonyms: (revolutionary, transformative, groundbreaking)

And in that way, fashion is transformative and actually helps people to integrate into their new community while taking account of their cultural heritage.

4. reinforce [ˌriː.ɪnˈfɔːrs] - (verb) - To strengthen or support to make something stronger. - Synonyms: (strengthen, fortify, bolster)

By learning how to make clothes and by wearing clothes that they've made themselves, this can help to reinforce the sense of self and the identity of these young refugee women.

5. holistic [hoʊˈlɪstɪk] - (adjective) - Characterized by a consideration of the whole system rather than just focusing on individual components. - Synonyms: (comprehensive, all-encompassing, integrated)

So we developed a holistic model, which includes other supports, such as transport, meals, and perhaps most importantly, mental health support.

6. perceptions [pərˈsɛpʃənz] - (noun) - The way in which something is understood, interpreted, or viewed. - Synonyms: (views, interpretations, understandings)

I believe that everybody has the right to develop their full potential, but it's very difficult for refugees to do that because of these negative perceptions that I mentioned earlier.

7. viable [ˈvaɪəbl] - (adjective) - Capable of working successfully or being feasible. - Synonyms: (feasible, workable, practicable)

Another thing that's very important for young refugee women is to have access to dignified and viable livelihood opportunities.

8. enterprise [ˈɛn.təˌpraɪz] - (noun) - A project or undertaking, typically one that is difficult or requires effort; a business. - Synonyms: (venture, business, initiative)

We also have what we call the artisan collective. It's a social enterprise.

9. artisan [ˈɑː.tɪ.zæn] - (noun) - A worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand. - Synonyms: (craftsman, craftsperson, maker)

And the artisan collective itself made revenue of over $50,000 in 2023.

10. integration [ˌɪntɪˈɡreɪʃən] - (noun) - The process of combining or adding parts to make a unified whole, especially within a community. - Synonyms: (assimilation, incorporation, unification)

And in that way, fashion is transformative and actually helps people to integrate into their new community while taking account of their cultural heritage.

Uplifting Refugee Women through Fashion and Connection - Helen ALTSHUL - TEDxKitisuru

When you look at the photographs on the screen behind me, what's the first word that comes to your mind? Maybe powerful. Maybe strong. Maybe confident. I'm pretty sure that the first word that comes to your mind when you look at these beautiful photographs is not refugee. Refugee. Young women are full of potential. They're creative. They have hopes and dreams, just like you or me. Given the opportunity to develop their skills, their ideas and their self confidence, and to heal from past traumas that they may have experienced, they have the potential to step confidently into their futures.

There are a lot of misconceptions and negative stereotypes about refugees, but our experience is that providing these opportunities can help to flip that narrative. And I'm going to talk about how we're providing those opportunities to young refugee women in Nairobi. Did you know that there are more than three quarters of a million refugees living in Kenya? Of these, over 100,000 are in urban areas, the majority here in Nairobi and the surrounding area. And 76% of these refugees are women and children. I believe that everybody has the right to develop their full potential, but it's very difficult for refugees to do that because of these negative perceptions that I mentioned earlier.

So why am I interested in the issue of refugees? Well, I consider myself to be a citizen of the world. I was born in the United States. I grew up in the UK. And in 2020, after many years of struggling, I finally managed to get my kenyan citizenship. But prior to 2020, I worked for more than 20 years in a number of different countries in Africa and in Asia. So why was I walking through beautiful modern airports like this one in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, called an expatriate, welcomed with open arms, compared with someone who's fleeing conflict and hardship, crossing a land border or perilous sea journey, being called a migrant, and being treated with fear and negative emotions.

So in my role at CEO, at refugee, I want to try and help to encourage people to have more acceptance of refugees and to support them within their communities. Why fashion? Well, one of the things that happens with forced displacement like that experienced by refugees, is that it can lead to a problem with identity and sense of self. By learning how to make clothes and by wearing clothes that they've made themselves, this can help to reinforce the sense of self and the identity of these young refugee women.

And in that way, fashion is transformative and actually helps people to integrate into their new community while taking account of their cultural heritage. What are the things that we've learned about providing support to refugees in the area of fashion particularly? Well, we started with vocational training, training people how to make clothes, how to do tailoring and fashion design. But that's not enough.

We have to go beyond education and look at the whole person. So we developed a holistic model, which includes other supports, such as transport, meals, and perhaps most importantly, mental health support. As I mentioned, a lot of refugees have experienced trauma. They may have witnessed or experienced violence. They may have been separated from members of their family during their journey. So it's very important to look at how we can help reestablish the mind body connection, and we do that in a number of different ways.

What you can see behind me is a class in trauma informed yoga to help people to come back into their bodies and experience their bodies in a new way. We also offer counseling, both individual and group. And the impacts of this have been 86% of the girls, when we surveyed them for last year, said that they had reduced symptoms of trauma. And 90% of the girls in the program felt that they had improved their social connections and networks.

Another thing that's very important for young refugee women is to have access to dignified and viable livelihood opportunities. This helps to prevent them from being exploited and give them social and economic independence. In our training, we used to ask the girls to come to the campus for the whole week, five days a week, for training. But we soon realized that this meant that they didn't have time to engage in productive activities that would help support them and their family.

So we moved to three or four days, depending on the stage of the training, so that in the other one or two days, they can actually go out there, work and earn some money to look after themselves, and therefore it helps with protecting them. We also have what we call the artisan collective. It's a social enterprise. Girls who finished their vocational training can join if they want. They learn the art of tie and die.

They make beautiful things, like I'm wearing. And they learn, also, in addition to the practical side, what it means to run a business, their business skills and financial management skills. A girl who comes up with a new colourway or a new design has that design named after her, so that when she leaves us, she leaves her legacy in the artisan collective. This has been successful such that 50% of the artisans who have left us have their own businesses. Now they're running their own businesses.

And the artisan collective itself made revenue of over $50,000 in 2023. The third lesson that we've learned is that mentorship and internship are really, really important for girls to be able to improve their knowledge and their skills. We used to do this at the end when people have taken their professional examinations in tailoring. But now we started introducing mentoring and short periods of internship. During the training, it takes two years to get the full national kenyan qualification in tailoring and fashion design.

But during that time we have some three month internships and this has really helped because 50% of the girls leaving their vocational training are in employment within six months. We also have events such as what we called the fashion challenge. In October of last year, we brought together kenyan fashion designers with some of our young refugee women. Each designer was paired with two refugees, one as a mentee and one as a model.

In the picture you can see in the pink jacket, our mentee, Aline from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She actually graduated top of her class in the tailoring after only a few months of having been in the country and not having spoken English before. She is there taking notes very keenly from the designer and she wants to be a fashion designer and run her own fashion house. So this is a really, really important opportunity for her. And the fashion challenge was a way of showcasing diversity, creativity and the power of connection.

So with opportunities to develop themselves, refugee young women can step into the future confidently. As I've said, the lessons that we've learned three main lessons. One is that you need to consider the whole person, the holistic model, the mental health is a particularly important part. But look at the whole picture, not just the education side or whatever, the objective that you're trying to achieve in your program. The second one is dignified and viable livelihood opportunities.

And the third one is mentorship and internship. So we are using fashion as a way of encouraging young refugee women to step into the spotlight and move forward confidently into their futures. But we believe that this same kind of approach, this holistic approach and taking account of these other issues could also work in other fields, working with refugees in different sectors. So as you're leaving when you go home, I'd like you to think about how you can use your skills and your expertise and your connections to help refugees in your own communities.

This could be in many different ways. You might, for example, want to donate your time or money to organizations that work with refugees. You might look at how you can buy products that are made by refugee run businesses. You could think about offering jobs or internships if you have your own company or in the organization where you work. That may sound daunting and difficult, but actually it's not very difficult.

The kenyan government has just introduced a waiver for work permits for refugees so that they can get a PiN number and be able to pay taxes without needing a work permit. So this is something that you can actually provide opportunities for young refugees, men and women, to be able to get some work experience and help them in their path. And finally, you can challenge negative stereotypes and perceptions that people in your circle express.

Maybe your friends or your family, when you're sitting around together, say something about refugees. You can challenge that. And you can say, hey, actually, this is the reality about refugees in the community, because bringing together refugees and members of the broader community in shared interests and pursuits shows that we are all connected. And together we can make our communities better places to live in. Thank you.

Refugees, Education, Entrepreneurship, Kenya, Empowerment, Fashion, Tedx Talks