A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea ─ The Journey of Doaa Al Zamel: One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival

Adrift in a frigid sea, no land in sight. Just debris from the ship’s wreckage and bloated, floating corpses all around. Doaa Zamel floats with an inflatable ring around her waist while two children cling to her neck. The babies had been thrust into her arms by their drowning parents, all refugees from Syria who boarded a dangerously overcrowded ship from Egypt bound for Sweden and a new life. Doaa must stay alive for these children. She must not lose strength. She must not lose hope.

Doaa was once an average Syrian girl, but in 2011 her life was upended by the civil uprising against their government's oppressive regime. Doaa and her family first flee to Egypt after their hometown is invaded by the army, but as Egypt grows unstable and life for Syrians becomes more dangerous there, Doaa and her new fiance decide to book passage on a smuggler's ship bound for Europe. After four horrifying days at sea on a rickety ship, Doaa's boat is rammed, and she and the other 500 passengers on board are left to drown. This is where Doaa's struggle for survival really begins.

In the midst of an international refugee crisis and as the debate continues around the U.S. travel ban, UNHCR’s Melissa Fleming’s A HOPE MORE POWERFUL THAN THE SEA sets the stage for this pressing political conflict through the incredible story of one young refugee and the triumph of the human spirit.

MELISSA FLEMING is chief spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She travels to war zones and refugee camps to give voice to the millions of people forcibly displaced from their homes. She is frequently quoted in international media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and NPR. Her talks are featured on TED.com. She first told Doaa's story on the TED stage, which went on to be viewed over a million times.