By anonymous

The majority of people who are at Wesleyan are there because they have the privilege to be in an elite university. There is also a minority who have the privilege to be at Wesleyan, but they have a different story, and here is the story of one of them. 

They tried twice to build a new life the legal way. Each time, their visa application was denied. For this family, hope was something fragile – something that had to be protected, even when everything else was falling apart. 

At home, life was marked by fear and control. The stepfather’s cruelty shaped each day with violence and manipulation. He hurt both the mother and daughter, leaving wounds that would take years to heal. Poverty deepened the struggle; their small business barely kept them afloat. When threats began – men coming to the family’s shop and warning that they knew where the girls went to school – it became clear that staying was no longer an option. 

The decision to leave was not a plan; it was survival. They were given only one week to go, just enough time to gather a few belongings. There were no goodbyes – only quiet, hurried steps away from everything they knew. They didn’t know about political asylum or that there were legal ways to seek protection; they only knew they had to escape before it was too late. 

The journey north took more than two weeks. Each day tested their strength, their faith, and their determination to reach safety. Hunger, exhaustion, and fear followed them, but so did an unbreakable will to live. When they finally crossed the border, they carried no possessions, only the hope that life could begin again somewhere new.

Now, they walk the same red-brick paths as others who have always known safety and belonging. But for them, each step carries a different meaning. Wesleyan is more than a university—it is a second chance, a place where the journey of survival meets the privilege of possibility. Their story reminds us that not everyone arrives here from the same starting line, yet each person carries their own kind of strength.