A Touching Poignant True Story_"Melissa Fleming: A boat carrying 500 refugees sunk at sea. The story of two survivors"_TED

This 19-minute story told by Ms. Fleming was a wake-up call for humanity. It was delivered in a calm but forceful way and won a standing ovation. The question Fleming posed halfway through the story: "Why do refugees like Doaa take this kind of risks?" churned my heart. "Only 11 people survived that wreck, of the 500." "Why is so little being done to stop the wars?" "Every life matters." These sentences have kept echoing in my mind.



Transcript is available. Just click the link below:

https://www.ted.com/talks/melissa_fleming_a_boat_carrying_500_refugees_sunk_at_sea_the_story_of_two_survivors/transcript?language=en

The following is the introduction to the speech:

"Aboard an overloaded ship carrying more than 500 refugees, a young woman becomes an unlikely hero. This single, powerful story, told by Melissa Fleming of the UN's refugee agency, gives a human face to the sheer numbers of human beings trying to escape to better lives ... as the refugee ships keep coming ... "

About the speaker Melissa Fleming:

"As head of communications for the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, Melissa Fleming sheds light on their devastating plight and remarkable resilience."

And here's "Why You Should Listen."

Why you should listen

"Almost 60 million people in the world today have been forcefully displaced from their home - a level not seen since WWII. As many as four million Syrian refugees have sought refuge in neighboring countries. In Lebanon, half of these refugees are children; only 20 percent are in school. Melissa Fleming of the UN's refugee agency calls on all of us to make sure that refugee camps are healing places where people can develop the skills they'll need to rebuild their hometowns. Investing in this, she says, may well be the most effective relief effort there is. This inspires her and the teams at the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees to tell stories of the individuals who are displaced. "