Special Youth Representatives

Sophie Weldon and Adut Dau Atem are Special Youth Representatives for Australia for UNHCR. Sophie and Adut undertake speaking engagements at schools and community groups to raise public awareness about the plight of the world's 20 million refugees and to raise funds for the UN Refugee Agency's international humanitarian programs. Sophie was a year 10 student from Sydney's Northern Beaches when she decided she wanted to enter UNHCR's Writing Competition, “Refugees Telling Their Stories”. Through a family friend she was introduced to Adut who had recently arrived in Australia after spending eight years in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya following her flight from her home in southern Sudan when planes bombed her village.

Sophie's story of Adut's refugee experiences won the 2003 Competition and in the meantime a special relationship developed between the girls and their families that has had an enormous impact on both their lives. In addition Sophie wished to do more to promote the work of the UN Refugee Agency and she approached Australia for UNHCR with a proposal to engage young Australians. This resulted in their appointments as Special Youth Representatives. While there are many painful memories for Adut, both girls are eager to share their uplifting story with other young people. 

Sophie Weldon

 "Before I met Adut and heard about her story I didn't really understand what UNHCR was or what role they played or even what the letters stood for! Now when I see the blue plastic and the UNHCR logo on television broadcasts of refugees all over the world I know what it means to those people, what it meant to Adut and her cousin Abuk, it meant recognition, safety and hope. I am honoured to have a part in enabling more young people to understand the work of UNHCR and its even more special because I am sharing it with Adut." 

Sophie is currently studying at Atlantic College in Wales

Adut Dau Atem

"It is very special for me to have this honour, to talk to young people about what it is like of be a refugee, about the work of UNHCR. I have experienced first hand, as an eight year old girl, what it is like to be saved by UNHCR, to be given food or shelter when you are driven from your home and family, now I want my voice to keep alive the plight of the refugees still in the camps so they are not forgotten. No one wants to be a refugee, they just want to live a normal life like everyone else but they are powerless to change the situation in their country, to change their circumstances."

Adut is currently undertaking a Medical Sciences degree in Canberra.