Lionel is in high school in Rockford and says he would like, someday, to work for the United Nations helping other refugees.

When Melissa Fleming of the UN High Commission on Refugees asked him what the word refugee means to him.

“If you ask me in Congo, I would say no hope,” he said. “If you ask me in U.S., I would say a second chance. Not every refugee is getting out of refugee camps.”

Coming to the U.S. made it possible not only for Lionel and his sister to attend school, but also for their mother, who was “very sick” to receive medical help.

Lionel spent 11 years of his life in a refugee camp. Now a high school graduate attending Rock Valley College in Rockford, he plans to attend Northern Illinois University.

Syrian refugee Ahmad Al Haj Ali said through a translator that  his family “suffered a lot” before getting to Rockford.

“We hope to give a better life to our kids and to help other people,” he said.

Most Syrian refugees, he added, are worried about their lives.