Our Team
Alex Kahn - Founder
My name is Alex Kahn, I'm from Armonk, NY and a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. My grandparents, Paula Tawil Cohen and Albert Cohen, were Jews exiled from Egypt by the dictator Nasser in 1956. They shared with me glowing memories of climbing the pyramids, yet also tragic recollections of their family being torn apart, forced to leave everything behind and traverse the world in search of a new home. After moving to France and then settling in Brooklyn, NY, they had to start from scratch and rebuild their lives here in the US.
Their tumultuous journey—a defining feature of my heritage—has inspired me to help others who are persecuted and forced to flee their countries and start over. Right here in Westchester County are refugee families from Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Ukraine and other countries. In 10th grade, I started volunteering for local two local organizations that help refugees settle into our area: Hearts and Home for Refugees and Neighbors for Refugees. Among other fundraising activities, I've also helped collect and sort donations, and transport and pack donated furniture into storage units. I founded a student chapter at my school, called Students for Refugees, and recruited others to help advocate for refugees as well. Our club was instrumental in initiating multiple donation drives such as a toy drive, a personal hygiene product drive and a drive to collect humanitarian items to aid those in Ukraine. The club also planned outings with local refugee children like bowling and taking them to ball games.
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I noticed during our club meetings and donation drives that while my peers wanted to help for this important cause, the actual refugees and their families remained anonymous, so my classmates felt no personal connection. Once we started hosting events where we could welcome refugees and help them connect with one another, they started to open up to us and recount their harrowing tales of expulsion. I decided I wanted to share their stories to help others understand the extent of their suffering, so I created a podcast for my Global Scholars class, featuring an interview with Afghan refugee I met at our bowling event. Upon hearing the podcast, my classmates recognized how dire their situation really is, and it motivated me to further amplify the various experiences refugees have when coming to America. However, many refugees are reluctant to tell their stories as they fear for their lives, so I started speaking to family members/children of refugees, as well as allies/advocates of refugees to get different perspectives on their experiences. This collection of interviews of refugees and their allies led to the creation of "The Refugee Voices", a website formed in an effort to raise awareness about this humanitarian crisis and the obstacles that refugees face. In doing this, I am hoping I can identify their most pressing needs, break down stereotypes and misconceptions, and rally others to help them as they navigate their journeys in the US.
Ahbeet Sarker
Ahbeet Sarker is from Williamsport, PA and is currently junior at the University of Rochester. In the summer of 2018 he experienced a defining moment that would forever shape his ambitions as a servant leader when he visited his home country of Bangladesh. There he insisted on helping his dad establish charity medical care for the Rohingya. Since that visit he has not been able to forget the horror, pain and suffering that he witnessed, and he wanted to help amplify the untold stories of the millions who have been subjected to the ethnic cleansing by Myanmar and Buddhist extremists. Abheet wanted to be an ally initially in his own little way by fundraising. Still, he realized that people were ignorant about the refugee crisis, and thus he would start raising awareness in his local community by holding speaking engagements and seminars. To ensure the reach would be broader, he created a website named representtherohingya.com along with a series of mini-documentaries to voice the core issues to the refugee crisis. He has been interviewed by local newspaper and international channels. Through his fundraising and altruistic endeavors, he has been able to arrange hefty donations to the refugee camps. He revisited the camps in the midst of the pandemic in November 2020 to distribute the funds raised and implement changes within the camps that have already helped better the lives of the orphans by building school buildings and providing books. Abheet looks forward to combining premedical studies with international studies in order to continue his work to help the orphan refugees. As an advisor to The Refugee Voices, Ahbeet uses his experience to help guide different aspects of the website, interviews, as well as fundraising efforts.
Peter Tran
Peter Tran is a senior at Yale University majoring in anthropology. As the son of Vietnamese War refugees, he is firmly rooted in a heritage that informs his vision to foster the dignity and resilience of refugees and their descendants. The summer after his freshman year, he sojourned in Hanoi, Vietnam, ostensibly to study Classical Chinese through grant funding from the Council on Southeast Asian Studies. However, his time there allowed him to return to the land where his ancestors lived. Though born in America, he sees himself through and through as a trai Bắc (son of the North). In addition, with his knowledge of the Korean language, he’s also interested in exploring the historical ties between Vietnam and Korea. He’s passionate about how identity is formed and culture is passed down in diasporic Vietnamese and Korean communities. As an advisor to The Refugee Voices, Peter uses his experience to provide ideas for activities with the refugees and how we can use the interviews to bring people together, such as a book club and other ideas in the making.
Samantha Felner
Samantha Felner is a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin and attended Staples High School in Westport, CT. In high school, she was the Associate Managing Editor of Inklings Newspaper, following her roles as Opinions and Features editors. During the pandemic, she created a website called "(203) eat and tell". After so many local businesses were forced to shutter their doors and say goodbye to communities they’ve served for decades, she wanted to create a space dedicated to supporting and promoting the local restaurant economy, where she and her peers could share news and stories regarding anything and everything related to the local food community. Inspired by Alex's work with refugees, she plans to expand her website while she attends Wisconsin, and hopes to not only help restaurants that were affected by the economy after the pandemic, but also restaurants that are refugee-owned nationally.
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