(Originally published on newsdeeply the 23rd of September 2016)
Last week I received an invitation to be a panelist at a side event at this week’s U.N. General Assembly in New York, alongside the British secretary of state for international development and the Jordanian and Lebanese ministers of education.
I was asked to contribute a grassroots perspective on the education of Syrian children inside Syria and in surrounding countries. Ironically, I had to decline the invitation due to Lebanese General Security’s lengthy delay in processing my residency request, which I filed two and a half months ago.
I was also invited to attend many other events, like the Summit for Refugees and Migrants organized by the U.N. secretary-general, and the panel on education. But here I am, trapped in Lebanon as I have been for most of the summer, unable to travel and represent my organization, Basmeh &
