Olympic swimmer and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini (pictured above) shares her experience after returning to Syria for the first time in a decade.
In an exclusive interview presented by Joanne Serrieh on Al Arabiya News, Mardini opens up about surviving a missile strike at her training pool to swimming for her life across the Aegean Sea.
She also shares the trauma, the resilience, and the hope that fuels her mission to rebuild her homeland, and help millions of refugees around the world.
Watch the video under embargo here that goes live at 1800 GMT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut25iwDsAp0
When asked what it was like returning to Syria for the first time in 10 years, Mardini said:
“It was very emotional for me. I was in complete denial. It felt like I was dreaming. The point where I crossed the Lebanese borders and I was like in Syria, like I was on my way and I saw, welcome to Syria.
“I immediately started crying and it was more emotional that my mom was sitting next to me and it was also her first time in 10 years. So I felt very, very grateful and lucky to be able to go back.”
On sharing powerful footage on social media of where her family house once stood, Mardini added:
“When I left I was 17 years old and now I’m 27. So I learned a lot in the past 10 years and I grew up a lot and for me when I left I was a child. I didn’t understand what sides, what’s going on, politics, nothing.
“I just knew that I had to run. I had to save my life and now I went back intentionally to my country to be able to help, to be able to rebuild the country.
“So both have, leaving was something that was very, very sad, but returning doesn’t have to be, right? So yeah, there are two completely different experiences and I reflect on both of them.”
When asked what she would have done differently given the benefit of time and age, Mardini responded:
“I’d be way more terrified. I would 100% trust myself and my sister to do it again. And I feel like my father raised us to be fighters. My mom taught us that education is very important. So we were raised by tough parents. And we were taught not to give up. And I think I don’t know what the outcome of the journey would have been, but I know that I would have fought until the last breath.”
On what she missed on her return, Mardini reflected:
“It was very overwhelming for me because the reason why I went back, it was a mission with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and Syria’s refugee crisis or displacement crisis is the number one in the world. It’s really sad. It’s 30 million people were displaced within and outside of Syria, 7 million still are displaced, and 81% go back to their destroyed homes, including myself.
“For me, I have a Plan B, right? I have a home in Germany. I established a new life, but other people don’t. So it is my duty and my responsibility to go back as a goodwill ambassador. And we went to multiple cities in Syria. We met with families. We saw projects that are running on the ground. It was incredibly helpful for me to see that even in the destruction.”
On seeing the pool she trained in and trauma, she said:
“After 10 years, I saw my friends. I saw my grandma. I saw the pool. For me, the pool is more home than home. And for me, just to be able to sit and just listen to the quietness and just the birds, as cheesy as that sounds, it gave me so much peace. But I’m not going to also make it sound like it was only positive.
“Because when I went back, when I came back now, I’ve been struggling for like a few days like with… trauma is resurfacing, how can I help my people, how can I move forward? I also saw the destruction to the point where I’m like, how can we recover from this?”
“It was never about me telling my own story, only me and my sister understood the responsibility of this is the story of millions of refugees around the world, not just Syrians as well.”
When questioned, how her different her life would be if there was never a civil war, Mardini added:
“If I stayed in Syria, I would have still had the same dream of going to the Olympic Games. I would’ve fought for it every day, but don’t I think I would learn as much as I learned now. I would not have been able to understand that I have a bigger role in life than just sport. and I am Definitely deeply grateful for every step of the way for meeting the refugees that I’m meeting for being able to tell Not just my story, but the story the stories of millions of refugees around the world so, you know, I believe there is there is a universal plan for me”
On her humanitarian work and becoming the youngest UNHCR ambassador in 2017, goodwill ambassador in 2018 and what it meant to her, Mardini replied:
“When I went to like a few of like the community centers and I saw the kids and I saw what they were doing I also had like a circle where I talked to women because they come in for therapy as example and one of the women told me my dream is to my dream is like to continue my education so I can come back and be a therapist in the community center and to me this is like is incredible because you’re learning how to they’re already teaching how.
“They’re teaching refugees how to give back already, you know, with the very little that they have. So, for me, the work that I do with UNHCR and being an advocate is the most important job in my life.”
When asked about the video of the girl she posted to Instagram in Syria, she said:
“These are the stories, and these are people that give me motivation to do the work that I do. And I hope that I can go back and help her and help. all the young children, you know, whether they’re orphans or not, I hope I can.
“When I decided to be a part of the team and I went to the Olympics, I realized that we gave hope to the whole wide world. And I was like, oh, wait, hold on. This is not only about me anymore. This is about the kids in the camps. This is the mothers. This is is about teachers, the architect. This is me spreading a message of hope, and this team spreading a messages of hope.
“So the projects that we focus on is giving access to education and sports to refugees worldwide. Because my father advocated for sports in my life, and my mom advocated it for education. And both are so powerful. And I want to give them the opportunity to dream. I want to give them the opportunity to be able to say, I want to become a doctor. I’m like, OK, how can we do it? How can we help you?”
And finally on refugees, Mardini finished:
“I think the education about who is a refugee, why are they refugees, where are they coming from, there is a lack around the world. I think we need to educate our children who are refugees, why do they leave their homes. I mean. So many Syrian refugees are already returning home, right? And the reason they left is because they lost their homes. They lost their parents. It wasn’t safe enough for them. They were thinking about their future. So for me, it’s really important to educate people about what a refugee is.
“When I got to Germany, it wasn’t easy for me neither. I was like, it’s cold, I don’t know if I love the language, but slowly when I gave it a chance, I realized that Germany’s an incredible place and it hosted me and it’s, I call it my second home now, right. So I think it’s about being open-minded and learning who refugees are and why they leave their country.”
