I traveled to Namibia to report on refugee issues with fellow students and my journalism professor for a week this past December. Once there, we spent our time talking to refugees at the settlement and neighboring town, Otjiwarongo, and then compiling the information onto our website, www.refugeelives.org.

In almost every sense, the sweltering heat of the Namibian desert is a world away from the snowy sidewalks of Northwestern.  Besides the family and friends I spammed with the link to the site, I imagined very few outsiders reading our articles or hearing about our work. Even if they did happen to stumble upon the site, I never dreamt of stumbling upon these strangers.

Earlier this month, I watched a comedy show at Strictly Local, an artist exchange, in Chicago. Before the show I met several other audience members. When I mentioned I attended Northwestern to one man, he replied about how he heard of a group of journalism students from Northwestern traveling to…he blanked. Honestly, I thought he was referring to the Medill students who worked on the Innocent Project. As he explained more what he heard on Chicago Public Radio, I realized he heard about me and the 20 other students who traveled to Jordan, Malawi and Namibia.  What he heard about our work stunned him. Just listening to him explain how the heart-wrenching stories of refugees found their way to this man made me feel better about my experience in Namibia and the impact a student can have on the lives of others.

Although an amazing experience, I felt guilty I failed to bring anything of concrete value to the camp. I lacked any live-saving prescriptions or much-needed school supplies to give away. Instead, I just offered the refugees the opportunity to share their story of hardships to the world, and the slim chance it might inspire change. In actuality, only those interested in learning more about the plights of refugees from student journalists would pay attention. A small chunk of the population I thought, but to my surprise this included some Chicago comedy-lovers.

Tell the deserving stories. Who knows who will listen. Without the information, the world will have no way of resolving the issues.

- Rose Conry, GES Media and Marketing team