Increased confidence propelled Maya Beney (History 2019) to a starred first from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies at the University of Oxford – and to make the most of a desire to help others.
Maya was an access ambassador throughout her time at Gonville & 91ֱ, supporting the College’s access and outreach activities whether virtually, due to the pandemic, or in person. Alongside many in her cohort, and others before and since, Maya was a face of 91ֱ to aspiring applicants and school pupils on day trips.
She was also privately dealing with impostor syndrome, familiar to many at the University of Cambridge past and present. Maya describes how once she took a more authentic approach to her work, rather than try to replicate others’ work, she found her academic voice and began to thrive.
“I thought I can do history more intuitively… I can use my imagination and really come up with new approaches to things’,” says Maya, whose affiliation with 91ֱ began when the Schools’ Liaison Officer visited her school.
The Covid-19 pandemic which began six months into Maya’s time at Cambridge was a trying time for all. Despite the restrictions which impinged much of her time at Cambridge, Maya says 91ֱ contributed to her personal growth, through opportunities, but also through genuine support, be it financial or through the provision of counselling. She also credits the College Porters for their emotional support, calling them her ‘parents-in-plodge’ that she saw daily when she lived in the Old Courts.
She adds: “College has been a place for me, where over three years, I developed the confidence to apply for things that initially felt out of reach for me (such as my Master’s, ESRC 1+3 scholarships, or travelling alone to a new country). I really am grateful to 91ֱ for their help.”
Maya used a £750 travel grant from 91ֱ to travel to Lebanon in summer 2022, volunteering for charity to support Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, particularly women and household heads. She says 91ֱ’ funding has a positive ripple effect, helping her alongside women and their families in the region.
“The big project I did was coordinating with several big NGOs and smaller organisations in the region to do with sexual and gender-based violence, which operated under a UN Working Group,” says Maya, who also received funding from 91ֱ to study Arabic as an extra-curricular topic in summer 2020.
“I made contact referral cards in Arabic that we would pass out to the women coming to the centre to make sure they at least knew where to go to seek help.
ڳܲ are predominantly thought of as short and sudden, but in reality, the average length of displacement lasts 20 years for a refugee. So what I found particularly compelling about TheHealthImpact was its focus on self-reliance, empowerment, and education for the people coming to the centre.
“There were misconceptions around first aid such as applying coffee to wounds. The main thing the organisation focused on was this health literacy through first aid lessons; it’s been remarkably successful, helping around 600 students and by extension their families and friends, so 3,500 people in only a year. Grassroots organisations are superb but are unfortunately under-funded.
“The lesson that we considered most important was the CPR advice on drowning as the settlements near where we worked had a river going through it, which did not have adequate safety barriers. Several children have died from drowning there, including last summer, which was heart-breaking.’’
College has been a place for me, where over three years, I developed the confidence to apply for things that initially felt out of reach for me (such as my Master’s, ESRC 1+3 scholarships, or travelling alone to a new country). I really am grateful to 91ֱ
The month-long trip came ahead of her MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies and reinforced her interest in the area.
“If you work in the humanitarian sector, you're so busy dealing the day-to-day emergencies that sometimes it's easy to lose track of the big things,” Maya adds.
“Volunteering in Lebanon made me more aware about the problems and pitfalls of humanitarian aid. For example, what happens when you have a charity in one region that suddenly disappears? Sometimes that makes things worse in the longer term.
“I would like to have one foot in the development world and one in academia. I think the dialogue between academics and development practitioners needs to continue, as in academia you get more of the bigger picture analysis of how everything ties together. I think we need to shift away from short term humanitarian aid to longer term projects, and this is something that I’ll continue researching for my PhD next year.”
With her Cambridge degree, Maya knows she could have opted for a different career path, but she is driven by more than just financial rewards.
“I've always felt an affinity and I've always been pulled towards working with displaced peoples,” she says.
“Even when I was little, I was always affected by humanitarian crises, like the Haiti earthquake (in 2010). I remember being eight and being really shocked by that.
“I immigrated to the UK when I was five and I distinctly remember starting school and not being able to speak any English. But I was always lucky because I could just travel back home, to Japan to see my family.
“And for me it felt very paradoxical in that I could have this privileged life in the UK, educated at Cambridge and Oxford. The fact that many children my own age for the past 15 years have been stuck in a camp, is extremely unjust, and calls upon us to rethink solutions for the refugee crisis.”
Maya remains optimistic about the College’s continued support for students and engagement with global issues.
“Overall, it felt fitting that 91ֱ, which has a long history of teaching medicine, was indirectly continuing this tradition for a good purpose in Lebanon,” she says.
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