Sara Jari was the 2020 recipient of the Syrian Scholars Initiative (SSI) Scholarship, jointly funded by JICUF and ICU. SSI is a full scholarship for displaced Syrian students, and seven students were recruited between 2018 and 2022. 

Unable to travel to Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sara postponed her matriculation for six months, and decided to enroll in April 2021. She started taking online courses from her home in Gaziantep, Turkey, waking up at 3am daily to take JLP (Japanese Language Program) classes, surviving on a fresh pot of coffee.

Finally in April 2022, she and Ahmet Alhadban, the SSI scholar recruited the year after, were able to travel to Japan. Sara has completed all of her course requirements at ICU, and will officially graduate this month.

After the fall of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024, Sara decided to move back to Syria to contribute to the reconstruction of her home country. Currently she is back in Gaziantep and reunited with her husband. In Damascus, she will work as a media specialist at the NGO Mercy Without Limits.

We asked Sara to reflect on her time at ICU and how it has impacted her life. Congratulations on your graduation, Sara. It has been an honor to get to know you and watch you grow!

Have you ever experienced being in prison? I have. 

I have been imprisoned away from my dreams, hope, and away from living a normal life. It was the prison of living as a refugee. I was free to go out and move around but no matter where I go, I find myself away from everything I love and away from pursuing my dream. My dream was simple, I just wanted to be a university student. Seeking education, knowledge, and friendships. In 2019, after trying for years to enter university, I lost hope for a minute. But exactly at that moment, the chains surrounding my hands, heart, and brain got broken. I received a notification from JICUF congratulating me on receiving a scholarship to study at ICU in Tokyo, Japan. I remember freezing for a few minutes before running and hugging my parents, because it was unbelievable for me as a refugee to be given the chance to dream and live again. 

Joining ICU, I had a plan to learn as much as I can, and expand my knowledge to the maximum, taking revenge of the 6 years I spent away from education. Little did I know that my growth at ICU wouldn’t be limited to education. During my 4 years of university, I have watched myself going through personal growth, changing my mindset, dreaming bigger, learning more, building friendships, creating best memories of my life. 

The highlight of my journey at ICU that it helped me to find my identity. Living as a refugee for years makes a person forget who they were and how to identify themselves. However, because ICU gives students many chances to go into deep and thoughtful discussions and emerge within an international community, where students from all over the world unite in one place, I had the chance to reflect on my own thoughts. I was able to speak out loud about the things that I love, my dreams, who I was before being a refugee, the hardships of living as a refugee, and most importantly to speak about my beloved country Syria with pride. I spoke about everything I was holding inside for years, without receiving any judgements! It was the complete opposite; I received a lot of encouragement and support from students and professors. I was being heard with love and respect. The most surprising thing that I experienced is that living in Japan and going to ICU made me fall in love with Syria more. Since the first day I entered ICU, people were very curious to know about Syria and what happened there. I spoke about the Syrian revolution in classes, within club meetings, and among friends gathering. I found myself getting more attached to my home country, and feeling prouder about being Syrian, a Syrian refugee. 

I started recognizing that my name is Sara, who once joined the revolution, who fought for justice, who was once a hardworking refugee, who faced life challenges with a smile, who stayed strong and ran after her dream of being a university student. Sara who is now a graduate student of International Christian University. This is my identity, a proud and strong Syrian refugee. 

I worked hard everyday studying at ICU, hoping that one day in the far future I will take this knowledge to rebuild my country Syria. Nothing felt better than having this dream come true after 8th of December 2024, when Syria got liberated. The joy and happiness of graduating doubled when I realized that I will be going back right away to rebuild Syria. Taking all experiences and knowledge I have gained at ICU, and taking the new Sara back to rebuild Syria. 

I am forever grateful to ICU and JICUF for giving me the chance to live and dream again. For letting me grow better and stronger and become the person who is ready to go back to a country that has been through 14 years of war, with full confidence, that I can contribute to making it a flourishing country again.