Karam Hassan: from Sudanese refugee to l'Oréal executive

Karam Hassan was arrested the moment he returned home. Sudan, December 2013: fresh from his studies in India, he was accused of opposing the government, imprisoned, then forced to inform on his own neighbors. "It became unbearable, unlivable," he says. "I decided to flee."

His parents, bakers raising seven children, gave him their $3,000 savings. Via Egypt, he boarded a makeshift boat across the Mediterranean.

Nine days. Eating once daily. Drinking once daily. "The fear of not making it," he recalls. His only dream: to reach land alive.

The Calais jungle

In France, Hassan headed to Calais, hoping to reach England. He found a sprawling shantytown—solidarity amid violence. Several attempts failed.

Then a friend died, crushed under a truck during a crossing. "I didn't go through all this to end up under a wheel," Hassan told himself. He abandoned the UK dream and sought asylum in France.

Rebirth in Arras

There, in Arras, he was reborn. He learned French listening to radio and Jacques Brel, aided by Françoise, an 83-year-old teacher who became his "French mom."

He earned a diploma, entered university, then Sciences Po. Today, he manages projects at L'Oréal Paris and founded La Voix des Réfugiés.

Reunion

After nine years, he reunited with his family—refugees in Egypt. "Behind every refugee," he says, "there is a mother, a father, a dream, and a life before."