Children tell the truth.

If you want to learn about the history of a people, eat their food and drink their beverages.

I go around the country sharing my story. I aim to dare other people to go deep into their own stories and hope to inspire them to think about their own world and experiences.

Safety should be a birthright.

It has taken me so many years to finally be in my bed and fall asleep for six hours.

I hate light... I feel like at night, it's safer. If anything happens, there's a way to hide at night. Another thing I hate about light is it reminds me about being in a refugee camp and being outside.

People say you can't change the world. But you can change people.

My day-to-day varies. I do some public speaking. I talk to school groups.

Every single person on the planet has equal humanity.

My Chicago is beautiful and diverse. It was able to give me all parts of the world all in one.

Being kind to myself helped me deal with people who thought less of me and thought they were better than me.

I'm open to everything. Take me anywhere, show me everything.

Being able to connect with other humans is something I've done since I was little.

I don't think in a linear form.

The idea of somebody suffering is really painful to every human. In our collective language, we all too often see those who are suffering as a victim to be pitied, to be feared, and even sometimes to be despised. I want to redirect that narrative.

I want to create or be a platform for people who have been labelled as a victim. I'm not going to be their voice; that's their voice. I want to allow people to voice their life beyond labels.

I think, when you survive any intense experience, people try to moralize you; a lot of people just try to raise you high, and it's so not fair to you and to everybody else.

In 2006, after 12 years being separated away from my family and then seven years knowing that they were dead and them thinking that we were dead, we reunited... in the most dramatic, American way possible. Live, on television.

From age six to 12, I lived in seven different countries, moving from one refugee camp to another, hoping we would be wanted.

I enjoyed playing everywhere, especially my mother's garden and my neighbor's. I loved my kindergarten. We sang songs; we played everywhere and ate lunch. I had a childhood that I would wish for anyone.