The following is being reprinted with permission from “Duke Today,” the newspaper of Duke University.

When a boat full of refugees bound for Italy capsized in the Mediterranean last month, killing hundreds, it didn’t feel like a distant crisis to Duke University junior Emma Smith.

“Every single person on that boat left a whole life behind in their home country,” Smith said. “Every one of them has a story.”

Smith, an international comparative studies major, immersed herself in such stories last spring and summer as she worked with refugees in Italy, Spain and Morocco. Spotting a need, she designed a LinkedIn page where refugees in Europe could network. She also created a curriculum to teach them how to use the social networking platform to find jobs.

“People forget that refugees are hopeful people, looking to build a new life,” Smith said. “And many are also highly qualified people. These are people who were doctors and engineers back home. “

Thousands of refugees streaming into Europe are fleeing wars in Africa. Smith became interested in the plight of people from war-torn countries through meeting people like her good friend and fellow Duke student Safa al-Saeedi.

Smith hails from tranquil Orcas Island in the Pacific northwest, and al-Saeedi is from Yemen. The two met at an international high school both attended in New Mexico, and bonded during a speaking tour Smith helped organize that featured young people from countries riddled by war.

Smith was moved when listening to fellow students such as al-Saeedi describe growing up in a war zone.

“I think this planted in me the idea of being a global citizen,” Smith said.

As she and Smith became friends, al-Saeedi visited Smith and her family on Orcas. On the tiny island, Smith grew up with no television or Internet access, but knowing all her neighbors by name.

“On Orcas, if you go to the market, you can count on seeing your dentist or soccer coach,” Smith said.

Smith recalls sitting with al-Saeedi on the island’s rocky shore during one visit, looking out at the sun sparkling on the water. Al-Saeedi looked out at the ocean and then turned to her friend, her eyes bright with tears.

“She said to me, ‘You grew up here. I grew up with instability all around me. This is the most peaceful place I’ve ever seen. This is paradise,’” Smith recalls her friend saying. “’Why did you ever leave this place?’”

Al-Saeedi recalls another moment from the trip, too. Al-Saeedi, who is Muslim, was praying in a guestroom when Smith’s mother entered and began to pray alongside her.

“It was a simple gesture,” al-Saeedi said. “But it made me feel at home.”

The friends were reunited at Duke when Smith arrived on campus as a freshmen, following in the footsteps of her friend al-Saeedi, who is a year older.

International work

Last spring, Smith travelled to Venice to work among Italy’s ballooning refugee population. There she met a man named Jalal, who ran a vegetable stall, but who had made a good living as a light fixture salesman back home in Bangladesh before fleeing due to political threats.

By the time Smith met Jalal, he had survived the rough journey from his home country, and his main challenge was finding decent work. Smith met others who had trained as mechanical engineers or lawyers back home but were now starting over as janitors or street vendors.

Determined to help, Smith applied for a grant from Duke’s Research in Practice Program-Engage to stay in Europe through the summer. She traveled to Valencia, Spain, to partner with a refugee reception center there.

With the help of the social impact team at LinkedIn, known as LinkedIn for Good, Smith set up the refugee networking page.

She also designed and taught a course for refugees about how to use LinkedIn the same way she and her Duke friends use it – to network with potential employers.

So far, former refugees have used the site to advertise for babysitting, elder care and other services and to look for work.

Smith will continue studying the refugee question next fall through a senior thesis project directed by her faculty mentor, Lori Leachman. To her, the motivation is straightforward.

“I have a responsibility to use what I’ve learned to make the world a better place,” Smith said.

Al-Saeedi’s          predicament

Meanwhile, Smith is reminded every day of how war can cut people’s ties with their home countries, transforming a person overnight from a mechanical engineer, a doctor or a student into a refugee.

Take her good friend Safa al-Saeedi.

Al-Saeedi, a political science major who hopes to pursue a Ph.D in the field, graduated this May from Duke. But what comes next for her is uncertain.

She had planned to return to Yemen this summer. But when air strikes broke out in Yemen in March, the country’s airspace was declared a no-fly zone. Al-Saeedi’s parents could not fly out to watch their daughter graduate. And al-Saeedi can’t fly home to see her family.

“It’s still not quite real to me,” al-Saeedi said. “You watch the news and see the names of streets you walked down. It’s like a nightmare you hope you’ll wake up from.”

Smith was in the crowd cheering as al-Saeedi walked across the stage to receive her diploma.

But now the two students’ paths diverge.

Smith plans to travel before heading to New York City for a summer internship.

Al-Saeedi, meanwhile, is stranded an ocean away from home. She says she hopes to travel to Orcas Island to visit Smith’s family.

There, she will spend a little more time by the sea, waiting for violence to subside in her home country.