The Story She Never Meant to Tell

Resilient. Courageous. Determined. A force of nature.

These are the words people often use when they speak about refugees who have rebuilt their lives from nothing — in unfamiliar countries, far from home, carrying the weight of loss and displacement across borders.

But Sandra Alloush doesn’t want to be called resilient. She doesn’t want to be fearless or be an inspiration. She wants what most people take for granted: a normal life. Safety. The simple privilege of being close to her family and friends in Syria.

I didn’t choose to be strong. I chose to survive.

Storytelling has shaped her life for as long as she can remember. In Damascus, she worked as a TV and radio presenter while studying economics and architectural engineering. Journalism was never just a career path — it was her calling. She’s always believed in the power of information to influence societies and in journalism as a public service.

That belief came at a price. In 2012, after receiving serious threats because of her reporting, she was forced to leave Syria. Three years later, she arrived in France on a humanitarian visa. She was soon granted refugee status and now holds long-term residency — but papers did not make the rupture easier.

As a journalist, I used to tell other people’s stories. I never imagined I would one day become the story.

In France, Sandra began documenting her own journey: the confusion, the endless paperwork, the bureaucracy, the isolation that most refugees face when they arrive in their host country. Along the way, she met countless other refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers across Europe whose stories were rarely told with nuance – or were erased altogether.

That was the turning point. She understood that her role was no longer only to report, but to challenge the narratives shaping public opinion. She had to shed light on the layered discrimination refugees experience on a daily basis, much of it invisible to those who do not live it.

I want people to know exactly what is happening – not as a headline, but through the lived experiences of those whose voices are often silenced.

Today, Sandra works as an advocacy officer with New Women Connectors, a refugee-led feminist movement bringing migrant and refugee voices to global policy debates. She also serves on the board of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), helping shape continental conversations on discrimination and structural racism.

In December 2023, with support from the Window for Women Human Rights Defenders of the United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), she participated in the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva. Held every four years, this platform brings together governments, UN agencies, and civil society to shape global refugee policy.

For Sandra, being in those rooms mattered.

It’s crucial that people with lived experience are present. We are the ones who can push states toward the change that’s needed.

Over the years, Sandra has produced documentaries at local, national, and international levels focusing on asylum and migration. Her work challenges simplistic narratives and replaces them with portraits of complexity, dignity, and agency.

But telling those stories has come at a cost. As an independent journalist, she has faced confrontations with authorities and barriers to accessing official spaces. Some of her sources have been targeted and intimidated. Sustaining her livelihood while continuing her work remains a daily struggle. At times, she has feared for her own safety.

The work of journalists and human rights defenders is more important than ever. Yet the space for us is shrinking. If we don’t document these injustices, who will?

Sandra knows from experience that rebuilding life in exile is never a simple restart. She has endured the disorientation of what she describes as “being like a newborn baby” — learning a new language, navigating complex bureaucracies, searching for housing and work — all while carrying the trauma of what came before. For refugee women, the weight is often even heavier. Many are primary caregivers, responsible not only for themselves but for their children and extended family members as well.

Can you imagine trying to live an ordinary life after all that? The weight is always there, and we carry it everywhere we go. It’s exhausting.

It is precisely because of that lived experience that Sandra insists refugee women must be at the center of policymaking. For too long, policies affecting displaced people were designed without women at the table — and the results have been devastating. Through a feminist lens, she argues, responses become more inclusive, more grounded, and more effective. Women bring intersectional perspectives that ensure no one is left behind.

That is why she insists refugee women must always be at the center of decision-making. For too long, policies affecting displaced people were drafted without women’s perspectives — and the results have been devastating. Through a feminist lens, she argues, responses become more grounded and more effective.

Without including women, solutions lack reality. They miss intersectionality. They leave people behind.

Sandra speaks with particular urgency about press freedom. Journalists, filmmakers, and human rights defenders, she reminds us, are not enemies of states. They are allies of people. Through their cameras and microphones, the world witnesses what’s happening on the frontlines: oppression, conflict, and resilience. Yet those same voices are increasingly targeted, detained, and silenced.

We must not become targets. When you protect us, you protect everyone.

Sandra Alloush during an interview with WPHF in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2024. (Photo: WPHF/Bea Ciordia)