Meet our Advocates!
Over the coming months, Refugee Pathways highlights its team members through our “Meet our Advocates” series, which includes the publication of various engaging Q&As with our staff. Enjoy!
Q&A with Heather
Heather Knorr is a graduate student at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and is based in New York City. At Refugee Pathways, she focuses on outreach and advocacy. Heather is passionate about humanitarian affairs and supporting refugees to ensure they have access to safe and dignified lives and well-being. Heather connected with Refugee Pathways founder Julie during the summer of 2020 and joined the team in July of the same year. Here’s more about her.
Q: What caused your initial interest in working to support refugees?
My background is in engineering, and I am particularly interested in working on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects in humanitarian emergencies and development settings. I am passionate about refugee rights and the basic human right to water. Often, refugee settings lack access to safe and clean water. Therefore, many refugees are vulnerable to water and sanitation-related illnesses. Although Refugee Pathways is not focusing on anything WASH-related, the organization supports refugees and displaced persons in general in urgently needed ways. I am grateful to be working with RP to provide other highly desired resources for refugees!
Q: Why are you working specifically with Refugee Pathways?
Upon my acceptance to NYU, I knew I wanted to immediately involve myself with an organization in the international development and humanitarian assistance sphere. I found Refugee Pathways highlighted on one of the NYU Center for Global Affairs’ social media platforms. As RP founder Julie completed this program in 2019, I was eager to learn more about Refugee Pathways and find out how I could be involved. Refugee Pathways fills a gap by providing refugees with information on various resettlement pathways. I am excited to be part of Refugee Pathways’ growth and to be working on a team of compassionate and dedicated individuals.
Q: What is your favorite right?
My favorite human right is the right to life. This right is all-encompassing to me. Every person has a right to live a safe and dignified life and spend their life the way they choose. Human rights are not consistently recognized, yet every one must be guaranteed them.
Q: What’s your favorite book about refugees/migration/immigration?
One of my favorites is “Do They Hear You When You Cry” by Fauziya Kassindja. This is a first-person account of a young girl from Togo forced into early marriage and subjected to female genital mutilation. The book follows Fauziya’s story from Togo to the United States and her challenges with the asylum process. It is a heart-wrenching story that shares the complex process of being granted asylum in the US. Fauziya’s writing is beautiful and vulnerable — I cried at least once every chapter!
Q: What’s one thing you wish people understood about refugees?
I wish people understood that refugees’ identities are not defined by them being refugees. They are mothers, fathers, teachers, doctors, children, etc. — they are people, and that is more than enough to be deserving of respect and dignity. I wish people understood the difficulties refugees face when they flee their homes. They are in search of a better life, and they deserve a better life. They have no other choice but to flee and seek refuge, and we should do everything we can to ensure their safety in this process.
