With the ongoing refugee crisis, it is often believed that once resettled, the quality of life for these individuals exponentially increases. Global Public Health graduate student, Mentalla Ismail, shares her insights on how this is often not the case. With systems designed to fail, many refugees face harsher difficulties than the ones they were fleeing. This is especially true for refugee students in Cincinnati who are not afforded the resources necessary to attain higher education. Which leaves us wondering, what is our responsibility to others? Mentalla Ismail is a graduate student studying Global Public Health at the University of Cincinnati (UC). She is the founder of Refuge-UC, an organization that pairs UC students with Refugee High School students in the Cincinnati area. Her work within the refugee community focuses on accessibility to education and health literacy. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx