Not Really Strangers

Building Better Futures for Refugees: The Power of Education

• USA for UNHCR • Season 2 • Episode 6

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In this episode of Not Really Strangers, Suzanne Ehlers sits down with two UNHCR DAFI scholarship recipients and leaders of the Tertiary Refugee Student Network (TRSN) — Monicah Malith, a law graduate from South Sudan now completing her Advocates Training Program in Nairobi, and Krista Rivas, a Nicaraguan architecture and international relations student finishing her final semester in Mexico City. Together, they explore what home means when you've been displaced, the unexpected ways education equalizes and amplifies, and what they want people who've never met a refugee to understand about our shared humanity. The episode also shines a light on the practical advocacy both are doing: Monicah coaching new DAFI applicants on how to connect their story to their scholarship application, and Krista and TRSN building a centralized website and English-language YouTube channel for refugees in Mexico navigating higher education without a scholarship. Both guests reflect honestly on self-doubt alongside pride — Monicah on walking into her first law orientation in a suit and feeling out of place; Krista on managing social anxiety before a high-stakes internship interview. And both return to the same conviction: that education gave them a voice they intend to use for others still on the path behind them.


Topics:

  • What "home" means after displacement for Monicah and Krista
  • The DAFI (the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative) scholarship experience and current educational journeys
  • Monicah's election as first international student president at the University of Nairobi
  • Krista's hospital design thesis and internship news
  • The funding gap: no new DAFI scholarships for Mexico in 2025, and Building Better Futures
  • What refugees and non-refugees share — empathy, migration, and adapting to new places
  • Pride, self-doubt, and being the first in your family to graduate
  • What it means to be a "stranger" to both women and how you stop being one


Episode Resources:




Resources:

SPEAKER_01

Hi, I'm Suzanne Ahlers, and this is Not Really Strangers, the podcast where we explore just how connected the refugee experience is to our everyday lives and to the social issues that matter most to us. Thanks for joining us for another conversation with a brand new guest, here to share the story of how they came to realize that their story and the refugee story were intertwined. By the end of this episode, you'll see that in this global community, the distance between us is often much shorter than we think. Let's dive in. So I, right now, am going to dive right in and I am going to welcome both Monica and Krista to the podcast Not Really Strangers. I'm going to ask you each, um, where are you dialing in from today? Monica, why don't you start? Where are you right now?

SPEAKER_00

Uh, thank you. I'm now in Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya, where I've been a refugee. Yeah. This is where I am now. Krista, um, where are you dialing in from today?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I'm Mexico City specifically, and I've been living here for the last five years already.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. All right. So now we know where you're calling in from. Mexico City, by the way, um, really one of my favorite cities in the world. And the Mexican government, maybe you'll talk about this, has really been a leader in a lot of refugee issues and responses. So um an interesting place for you to be. So now I'm gonna start with Krista for this one. You're in Mexico City, but Krista, where do you consider home? And what does the idea of home mean to you?

SPEAKER_02

Well, for me, home is not a point, a fixed point on a map. I think that is the wrong idea. For me, it's when you have an opportunity to build a future without feeling fear. For me, that's an actual home. And Nicaragua, of course, is my route. But in this case, Mexico became my home when it opened its doors for me to rebuild my life. So for me, home means stability.

SPEAKER_01

Not a fixed point on a map, I think is something that I've heard from many people that I've asked that question to. Monica, what do you think about that? You're in Nairobi, but what is home for you? What do you consider a place or an idea that is home?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, for me, I've been in most of my interviews, in most of the things that I do, I feel like Kenya has been my home because I'm so like attached to most of the things. Like I started my schooling here, I studied in Kenya throughout, and I stayed in Kenya. I've been involved in different levels of leadership engagement, both in primary school, high school, and university. And even when I'm so invested in Kenyan politics, and if anything is happening around Kenya, I am more conversant with it than my own home country, which is which is South Sudan. I've always long, if I go to New York, I want to come back to Kenya. If I go to like Geneva, home, I want to go back to Kenya and see what's happening. When I'm in South Sudan, I want to go back to Kenya. In one way or the other, I longed for Kenya, yeah. So Kenya is home to me.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah. And a place that's provided so much opportunity for you, like Mexico. I hope our listener knows that the Kenyan government has also made some very courageous and supportive choices as it relates to refugees and the integration of those refugees into the economy, into the workforce. And what you say, uh, Monica, because I've traveled to Kenya many times. The interest in politics in Kenya and people watching the news and reading the headlines, it's like no other place on earth. It is one of the most like politically interested places I've ever been. I have so much fun there. After work, the TVs are on and everybody is sort of stopping in to watch the latest. Is it still like that today? Yeah, it's still the same. So the listener will know we first met in September of 2024. We were all in New York together at the time of the UN General Assembly, and we were launching the campaign Building Better Futures, which is about a goal of raising $15 million to fund 1,000 women's scholarships through the DAFE program, which of course you both know long-standing education scholarship program at UNHCR. So take us back in time a little bit. In September of 2024, what were you studying when we met? Um, how did you choose that area of study? What drew you to those issues? Krista, will you start?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, sure. Well, at that moment, I was studying both architecture and international relations. I know it's a weird mix. Normally people tell me that, why are you studying those two? They don't have any connections. But actually, something that I have learned is that architecture is more human than people can think. Because normally when you think about an architect, you say, oh, they build nice houses or nice buildings. They are designers, and that's it. But when you have to design something, you have to think about the, we call it the user, but to the person that is going to use that place. And you have to think about how they will feel. You have to give them a dignified place to live or to work or to do whatever they have to do, any activity. So you have to think on a human way how to make them feel good when they are in a certain place. And architecture can be used in different ways completely. In the humanitarian world, we have, for example, we can work on building better shelters and working even on the part of the integration of the migrants and the refugee community to their new homes. And all of that is connected to architecture. I chose, I learned that once I was studying it, but I chose architecture because since I was a little girl, I don't have even the memory. But my parents have some videos of me at three, four years old painting houses and moving around all the things on the house because I was saying that, oh, this diner table will look better on that, on that window. It's like I was born to do it. So that's why I chose it. And then I connected it with all the experiences that I have. So that's why I love architecture, and I'm studying international relations because in this humanitarian world, we need to learn also about the world, how everything works, understand the systems to actually fight for the rights of everyone. So that's why I'm studying both, and that's why I studied both, and I connected, I connected them that way.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, beautiful, beautiful. Monica, back in September of 2024, what were you studying? Where were you in your journey at that point?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, 2024, I just finalized my last semester and did my last exams for my law degree. Okay. And uh looking back to how I chose to do law, I had conflicting uh three choices, which was one of them was political science. I was so much in into uh being in political spaces way when I was so young. But there was the general idea when you're young and you're in school and in primary school, and then you're asked which career do you want to do or which course. Do you want to do your lawless? I want to be a lawyer. Uh law gives you uh the general outview of it's your right, and and you have your rights and your duties. It's one every right has a duty. So, what duty do I have after having the rights that I'm accorded with? And of course, there is the general comments. If I meet someone for the first time, I remember having an interview with the uh senior advisor to the president of South Sudan, and he was doing farming, and I was interviewing him why is he doing farming and what is it um going to do to the people of South Sudan? And after the interview, he asked me, that's when I had just finished my high school. So he asked, Are you which university did you graduate from? And did you do law? And when I speak to anybody, everyone is just like, You want to be a lawyer, are you a lawyer? So those are the things that contributed into me choosing to go for law. But then, of course, the idea of advocacy. Uh, the world is so in a mess because we don't know our duties. Most of the time we claim our rights, but we don't know the duties that come with those rights.

SPEAKER_01

I really, this idea of knowing your rights, I mean, it's one thing to have a right, it's another to really understand what protection that right affords you or the duty that that right imbues you with for others, and that there is, of course, people like you who have been experts studying in this space that are that are raising awareness across big groups of people to know their rights and to really understand the way in which there is a legal duty, if you will, for protection. Um, and the experience of refugees is at the heart of it. So this time I'll start with Monica. So that was where you were a couple of years ago, finishing your final exams. Today, in March of 2026, where are you on your education journey and your professional aspirations?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I just finished my classes for my advocate training program, which is uh at the Kenya School of Law. After four years of law, you have to go for that program, which is now teaching the practical aspect of law, having your own law firm, appearing before a court of law, representing people, and all of this leads you to getting now your license and now getting into practice. So that's what I'm doing at the moment. And uh in June or July, I'll have to maybe start my internship program if I don't start any earlier. That's what I'm doing at the moment. Of course, part of it is advocacy and telling uh from the time I applied for Duffy scholarship and during the interviews and knowing now, getting to know what interviewers are looking for, and letting students know when you're applying, it's one thing to have good grades, it's another thing to link your personal story and challenges into something positive and linking it to the university that you are. So I'm now out doing advocacy, creating awareness on what applying for scholarship looks like, what scholarships are looking for, and how do you package your own story, especially in line with being a leader? Because all scholarships are like now, uh being a leader is one of the things that they need. I call it a qualifying uh factor. So, how what can you what can qualify to be you being called a leader? So most of the time people think if you become a president, like in my case, uh I found people struggling, looking up to me and saying, you know, for me to be like Monica, but then they don't know that they have their personal unique stories and they have to know which is this story that you have and how can you connect it to your degree that or the course that you want to do. And with the scholarship, like the Duffy Scholarship, what do Duffy Scholarship, what was the initial idea of formulating it, and how is it relating to your story? And how is it going to elevate it and make it a story that will bring impact? So currently, those are the two things I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01

Krista, that was two years ago, architecture and international relations, and you did a beautiful job of helping us understand that those two areas are are connected. I can see them alive and new both together. What are you doing today now in 2026? What is you where are you on your education journey, even if you're finished and what your work prospects look like?

SPEAKER_02

Actually, I'm pretty excited because I'm finally on the last stage of architecture. I'm on my last semester and I'm working on my thesis. I'm designing a hospital, a hospital for for Mexico because, well, I recently finished my social service, which is a requirement to graduate here, and I did it on the General Hospital of Mexico, which is the biggest hospital in Latin America, actually. Wow. Okay. So yeah, so they are working to update uh all the buildings because this hospital was built in the 1920s. So that they need a huge uh update. That's why I'm designing this this tower for the hospital, because this hospital is free, actually, not just Mexicans, but anyone can go there and receive all the medical assistance that they need. So I'm happy to be part of that huge project that they have. And I'm also actually happy because just today I received an email that I was accepted to do my internship on my dream place just two hours ago, actually. It's a Turner Thousand. And I know this will be a huge opportunity for me to grow in the industry of architecture in consultancy. So that's what I'm doing. And of course, I continue with working with TRSN and with Monica. Uh actually, we recently got a new budget for Mexico to because we are developing a new website. Because one of the obstacles that refugees are going through is that you need to know what you are going to look for to actually find the information to get into college. So that's a huge obstacle that everything everyone is going through. To also make easier their path to education, because something that is happening here right now is that Mexico and Latin America in general is practically not receiving any more scholarships. For example, this year Mexico didn't receive any DAFI scholarships for neon refugees. So we are trying to help refugees to actively access to public universities because here are pretty cheap. Even mine is free. It's really competitive. Uh for example, online, only the 3% of people actually get in. So we are trying to help these refugees to be able to access to public universities because without a scholarship, it's going to be hard to pay for a private university. So that's what I'm doing right now, trying to keep pushing for the rights of different refugees and trying to also build my career.

SPEAKER_01

Well, first of all, congratulations on news of the internship just two hours ago. So our listeners are getting breaking news, and that is a wonderful achievement. So huge congratulations from me and Monica both. I know I saw her smile when you shared your good news. And then in the show notes, we'll put a little bit of information about the tertiary refugee student network that both of you are engaged in, um, just so that listeners can understand all of the ways in which you both have had success through scholarship and university education and how much you're trying to pay that forward for other students. So centralized information, demystifying the application process, the English piece on YouTube. I just want to make sure that people understand that in addition to your studies and your work, you're also really paving the path for other students to come in behind you. And then, you know, Krista, you mentioned that there's just not enough money. Well, you mentioned that there's no scholarships. And I'll say that there's not enough money for those scholarships. So I want people to understand that the demand for scholarships is high and that if we had resources, we could fund so many aspiring students and scholars. But because there are always budget cuts and restrictions on what not just UNHCR, but many agencies can do in the humanitarian space, it's one of the reasons we launched Building Better Futures, because we knew we could put more resources for these important programs. So another push for our listeners to get engaged and to support efforts like this because so many students are ready to pursue these university degrees and they just need the resource and the support to do it. Monica, what about you? What is something that might be surprising or surprise our listeners about your journey and what you've learned and seen over the last couple of years?

SPEAKER_00

When I was in New York, I remember people from my back in the country posting a village girl in New York. And uh uh realizing how I started my education journey, how I left South Sudan. And the small world, I never knew that there was a world existing beyond what I was, just rearing cattle, moving around, looking for water and pasture for the cows that we had. There was no any world that I knew beyond that. But the most transforming part of it has been realizing I achieved my American dream. Every other young person wants to be in America. And how did I get myself there? Because of my education. Being a lawyer, being the first member of my family to graduate or to go to school, like in even in my small extended, in my extended family, uh, and in my immediate family being the first one to graduate and going to spaces, traveling around the world, and um speaking, addressing presidents, and I was telling them, yeah, I never knew I'll address the presidents of all these different presidents from different countries. Yeah. And you if you ask my father, and I tell people, people, if I talk to someone in South China, they'll be like, Who is your father? Because they want to associate my achievement with my dad or whoever is packing me. And this is all hard work. I have not had a family a member of the family that has gone to school before and that knows the importance of education. And remember when during academic day in school, no parent came for me. So I will I will be the one talking to myself if I fail or if I drop in my performance. I'll be the one knowing uh. You're the one. Yes, I'm the only one doing it. And even if I tell my mother I'm number one, she'll just be happy, but she can't really relate the story of what it takes to go through academics. So it's been a journey of uh so far I've achieved a lot. And the most encouraging part is that the past was a bit difficult than now with the present because we have Christ, I have Christopher from Mexico and I can connect to I have people from different countries globally. Yeah. And when I was in school, they were like, make use of your network and and build network, and this is the network that I'm happy about, and this is the comforting aspect of my uncertainty that if I'm so uncertain about something, I will say, of course, I have people that I can reach out to for opportunities, for linkages, and and and and and and and that's what I can say about it. It's it's been interesting, and I'm happy and proud of myself.

SPEAKER_01

You should be. You should be. Krista, I would love to hear your answer. When you look back, like Monica's just done. What do you what do you think about how far you've come and the the opportunities that you have helped make possible through hard work? What goes through your heart and mind?

SPEAKER_02

I think I feel connected to what Monica said because I'm also from a really small town in one of the poorest countries in the in the region. So I used to think that you cannot get to a certain place or a certain level if you are not the son of a daughter of a certain family or someone important. So for me, I think when I think about everything, I just say, wow. I don't know how I got here. Of course, I know because I worked hard, but at the same time, it's something that I never thought that I would leave. I mean, I left my small town uh afraid of everything by myself. And then I moved to Mexico and now I'm studying in one of the top 100 universities in the world. I've been to New York, I've spoken at the UN. I have friends from all over the world. We have Monica here, and she's amazing. She's always so inspiring with all the skills and intelligence that she has. And I met people from all over the world with amazing stories. I've been to cities that my parents used to just dream about. I grew up hearing my dad saying that one day I want to go to Switzerland, or I want to go to Chile, or my mom I want to go to New York because she was a fan of Sex in the City.

SPEAKER_01

You know, I have to tell this really quick little story because you mentioned the TV show Sex in the City. And I want you both to know that one of the other guests on this season of the podcast is an actress, Kristen Davis, who played Charlotte on Sex in the City, and she's a Goodwill ambassador for UNHCR. So I'm asking her the same questions that I'm asking you both about the refugee experience. And so it's a small world, uh, Kristen. You can tell your mom you're on the same podcast as Kristen Davis. Um I have two more questions. One of them is about the name of the podcast, not really strangers. And uh, Krista, I'm gonna go to you first on this one. What does the idea of being a stranger mean to you uh at this moment in the world?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I think that we are all strangers to at least one person. I mean, being a stranger is not knowing the humanity of that person uh until you actually get to them and meet them, hear their stories. So for me, being a stranger is not connected to being a refugee or anything like it. Um you stop being a stranger when you create a circle of people that is around you and that people get to know you. So for me, being a stranger is just something typical in humanity. Everyone is a stranger to a lot of people. You might see your neighbor, but never talk to them, and he's a stranger for you. So you stop being a stranger when you let people get to know you.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Almost like where you started when you were asking about home. It's not a a stranger doesn't have to be a fixed definition, right? You can overcome being a stranger by getting to know another and share, you know, this sort of story and this humanity. Monica, what does it mean to you to be a stranger at this moment in the world? What does that word bring up?

SPEAKER_00

Uh it brings up um at times ignorant of someone, like in this case, to know about issues of refugees. You can be a stranger to the idea of refugees and who refugees are and to how are they affected. You can be a stranger. A refugee can be a stranger in a new country that they are in, and how do they decide to fit in? So the idea of strangeness is now comes back to the humanity in us and and and seeing common grounds. Am I what is the sheer thing that we have? And how do we learn each other? And that is how we take out the strangeness in us and being intentional. Because if I wasn't intentional, Krista will be strange to me now on this, will be a stranger to me now on this on this podcast. But when we first met, we got interested in knowing each other. We furthered our conversation. So that's what I'll I'll definitely say as well. Everyone else is strange to one thing or the other. And how then do we get out the strangeness? Because I think being strangers to almost everything, being strange, uh everything feeling strange to us is how we fail to create impact. So I'll say, let's be intentional with knowing that anything can be strange to you, but them being strange to you or anyone being stranger to you doesn't mean you can't get connected.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so thank you both for that. The last question I think is an easy one and a little bit fun, which is the idea that when we break bread together, we can often build community around a table. And maybe both of you like to cook, or maybe you like to have people cook for you. But this is a this is a dinner that don't worry about it. We will find the best chefs and the best food. But we want you to set the table for a beautiful shared dinner of people who care about this work and these issues. What would you serve? What's on that table? What what kind of image do you have of how we would have that celebration together?

SPEAKER_02

I think I will serve a plate, a traditional plate from my country, which is called caballo. This is like um, let's say a mini buffet of all the traditional foods that we have in my country. But I will add also different foods from the countries where I've been, because I think that this plate represents how my life is right now because I'm surrounded by people from all over the world from different cultures, I'm meeting different people, and I would like to the invite to try my traditional food, but at the same time, try their traditional food that so they can feel at home, but also meet other cultures at the same time. I love it, I love it.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, Monica, you had a little extra time to think.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's the there is uh one thing okay, there is the traditional food. For me, I grew up taking milk, so I wouldn't go for a week without, or even for two days without taking milk. So milk will be on that table. Milk's on the table. I love it. My daughters will be so happy. Yeah, because I grew up to the age of 12 taking milk, and I can actually survive one week or just I can stay on milk throughout, even now. I can just take milk throughout and survive it. And there's one thing I like as well in uh in Kenya, chapati. I make but I also make best chapatis at times. I used to do that business. Yes. So when I was in the university, we had the apartment I was on had 16 floors. So I used to wake up very early in the morning at four, make chapati parties, and I serve the building. Most of my clients were the people on the building. So they'll come and order for me. So chapati will be there and and beans. And there is when I was in Geneva, I experienced fufu and okra soup from yeah, so that's one thing I like. And when we were in uh I wouldn't know exactly the names, but a touch of food from Jordan, of course, and what I would love from maybe Mexican wings, chicken wings, I will want them on the table because I remember the entire time we were in New York with Krista, all of us will go for breakfast and we order chicken wings from Mexico. So that's one thing I also like. And when I travel out of any country and I come back to Kenya, the first thing that I will want to feel like I'm back home is taking milk and number two, taking nyamachoma. I don't know if you know this rusted meat. So we'll have to go to the grilled house. Yes, a very local place to get nyamachoma, and that's how I get to go home. And in South Sudan, fish, of course, South Sudan has the best fish, so very fresh. You take it from the Nile and you put it on the like it's it's still alive a bit, and then you just get it fresh and put it on the pan and and eat it. So those are the things I will I will have on on that dinner because I have had the best experience. And and when I was in um when I was in uh in Ghana, we had uh Banku. And and this Banku was nice, and of course, Angera, when I was in Ethiopia, we're taking Angera for breakfast. We had it for lunch for tea break at 4 p.m. and then dinner. So those are the things that I would want on that table because I'm imagining all of these countries that I've gone to and the experiences I have had, us sitting together and eating.

SPEAKER_01

We're at our time. I know the two of you are so busy with your studies and your work. And so I want to just say how much I really appreciate and value that you took time for this conversation and that you were so candid in helping our listeners understand all of the hard work it took to get where you are, and how much both of you are so committed to having other people come up in this same journey and get the access to education and opportunity and work. Um, you're both really courageous leaders, and um I've learned a lot from you today, and I just want to say thank you. Thanks so much for listening. Your time is valuable, and it means a lot that you've chosen to spend it here. You can find today's show notes, including how to connect with today's guest, at unrefugees.org slash not really strangers. That's UNREFUGES.org slash not really strangers. While you're there, I hope you'll consider making a donation to the organization I lead, USA for UNHCR, to help us provide more support for refugees here in the U.S. and around the world. If this episode was impactful, please take a moment to review the show and share the episode with a friend or family member. This small action will help us have a much bigger impact. Thanks so much. Don't be a stranger.