This International Youth Day, TogetherintheUK highlights the stories of young refugees and migrants in the UK, whose courage and creativity are advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and shaping a more equitable society.
Every year on August 12, the world comes together to celebrate the UN International Youth Day, a global occasion dedicated to recognising the power, creativity, and potential of young people. It reminds us that youth everywhere——are vital contributors to society. In the UK, this includes refugee and migrant children who arrive seeking safety, opportunity, and a new beginning. These young people bring resilience, diverse perspectives, and untapped talent, yet often face unique challenges as they adapt to unfamiliar environments. TogetherintheUK (TGIUK) is honouring them by sharing extracts from stories and poems that these creative and resilient young people wrote as part of the 2020 TGIUK Creative Writing Competition, and which are included in the TGIUK anthology, Hear Our Stories.
As we mark International Youth Day under the UN theme ‘Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond,’ the act of refugee and migrant children writing and sharing their stories becomes a powerful local contribution toward the broader Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) —amplifying voices often unheard, fostering inclusion, and advancing SDG 16’s vision of peaceful, inclusive societies.
Karolina Jaks embodies SDG 4: Quality Education through her inspiring journey, shared in her story A Czeched-In Ticket to the UK. Arriving in the UK as a young girl with virtually no English, she embraced school life despite her early lessons, in her own words, “might as well be written in Greek.” Her saving grace was her love of mathematics—because, as she says, “6×3 equals 18 in any language.” That passion, “fuelled by its international aspect,” has grown into a lifelong ambition. Today, she is pursuing a degree in mathematics, with plans to continue to a PhD, aiming to work in research and contribute to building a better future for us all.
As a second-generation child torn between his parents’ traditions and the culture of his life in the UK, Anthony often felt out of place. In How One Woman Changed My Life (Hear Our Stories anthology), he shares how one act of kindness transformed his sense of belonging, boosting his emotional well-being in line with SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being which emphasizes the importance of mental and social well-being for all. Reflecting on this experience, he wrote “She showed me that no matter where you live in the world, or where you come from, it is the kindness of your neighbour and friends that make you feel at home.”
At just five years old, Natalia Tamargo Pumisacho moved from Spain to the UK. Twelve years on, she reflected on the challenges of starting over in a new country with a new language. “Going to school, looking around and not being able to make friends—the language barrier made me feel like a strange creature to them. I would go home, cry, and beg my mum to take me back to Spain.” Yet Natalia’s resilience soon shone through. As her English improved, she made friends and began building a life in her community. Remembering her own struggles, she now helps newly arrived children with language skills, translates paperwork for families, and teaches basic English to help others feel at home. Her work embodies the spirit of SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, fostering inclusion and equal opportunities for migrants and refugees. As she says, “I want my story to show foreign people struggling to settle that they are not alone, that they are capable of learning English. However long it takes, one day we’ll all be able to say: WE’VE DONE IT.”
We often look to adults for comfort, yet sometimes it is the young who speak the deepest truths. In Inevitability, Mika’s voice carries across borders, telling us that fear is natural—but strength is survival. For migrants and refugees far from home, her words are both anchor and sail. She writes, “time and circumstances turn the soul of a dreamy-natured child into a resilient warrior,” a reflection of a child’s journey from wonder to wisdom, from surprise to self-affirmation. In her resilience lives the essence of SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions—a call fostering resilience, inclusion, and hope in the face of adversity
Evelyn Bayerlein, a second-generation immigrant born to German and Ugandan parents, has only ever known life in the UK. Yet, despite growing up like any other British child—studying for GCSEs and A-Levels—she faces the frustration of being denied a British passport four times. “Hoping and wishing for that citizenship, to be naturalised into a country I have lived in all my life,” she shares. In her story, Second Gen Immigrant, Evelyn highlights the challenges of feeling marginalised in a society she calls home, offering a message of solidarity to others facing similar struggles. Her experience underscores the urgent need to address social and legal barriers, echoing SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, which strives to ensure equal opportunities and inclusion for all, regardless of background.
Youth can be a powerful force for inclusion and development, especially when given the knowledge, resources, and opportunities to flourish. Among today’s 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24—16 per cent of the world’s population—are countless refugees and migrants whose resilience and potential often go untapped. When their talents are nurtured and their voices heard, they not only rebuild their own lives but also strengthen the social and economic fabric of their host communities, advancing the vision of a more inclusive and equitable world.
To read more about the lives and impacts of migrants on UK society, go to TogetherintheUK.
To purchase a copy of Hear Our Stories, An Anthology of Migrant Writings, compiled by TogetherintheUK, go to TGIUK.
