Hourie grew up in the Ein El Hilweh camp in Southern Lebanon, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the country. It is a destitute, oppressive place, where some 80,000 refugees are squeezed into a dozen or so blocks of violence and resignation.

Just a few blocks away is the bustling Mediterranean coastal city of Saida, or, as Hourie puts it, “two different realities.”

“Ein El Hilweh is a place where you can die by mistake,” says Hourie, who nearly did just that walking to school one day when a man on the same sidewalk was accidentally shot after a fight broke out. “There are clashes every day, every week and month. It’s as simple as that. You can be walking down the street and violence will break out and you die by mistake.”

That Hourie is now teaching at Guilford College and helping students learn more about the stories of refugees only makes her story all the more remarkable. “Ten years ago I never would have thought I’d be in this position, but I’m thankful I’m here now,” she says.

Hourie’s circuitous and difficult journey to Guilford started in 2016 after she and her then-husband were living in the small Mediterranean island country of Malta. Hourie, who had already earned a degree back home, was studying karketing at a university.

That same year Guilford President Kyle Farmbry, then Dean of the graduate school at Rutgers University-Newark, was heading to Malta on a Fulbright Scholarship focusing on refugees in the Central Mediterranean. In doing advance work for his trip, he learned of Hourie and her work there with a group called Spark15.

Kyle was impressed by the group – whose mission is to advocate for youth issues affecting the refugee community  – and Hourie in particular. She was selected as one of 40 young leaders to represent young refugees at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees annual consultation in Geneva, where she helped draft a young-refugee policy proposal that was submitted to the U.N. Secretary General in 2016. She also was invited by the European Parliament in Malta to speak about her journey as a refugee woman.

“My first day on Malta I met Hourie. I was impressed with her from the start,” says Kyle. “Her knowledge helped coach me on refugees and taught me so much and her ability to relate to them and work with them was impressive.”

So impressive that Kyle invited Hourie to visit Rutgers-Newark to talk about Spark15's work. Later the university encouraged her to apply to its Global Affairs Graduate Program. She was accepted, eventually earning her master’s there and her doctorate in International/Global Studies.

From a refugee camp in Lebanon to Malta to New Jersey, Hourie had another stop to make. She was one of Kyle’s first hires after he became Guilford’s president last year. 

These days, as a postdoctoral fellow and adjunct professor at Guilford, she teaches a class in Guilford’s Justice and Policy Studies Department, and serves as a special assistant to the President. One of her projects for Kyle is leading the College’s partnership with the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship, a business incubator in Greensboro. Her focus is on – what else? – helping refugee entrepreneurs. 

“She’s doing a phenomenal job in the classroom from what students and faculty tell me,” says Kyle. “And she’s a great resource for folks who might have questions on refugee issues and higher education access for refugees. I’m glad we have her at Guilford.”

Greensboro isn’t exactly Newark. Hourie is adjusting to her new life in a smaller city, but she loves the community of Guilford. “The College provides a smaller sense of community,” she says. “There’s a standard of manners here you don’t always find in a bigger institution or city when you interact with people here. There’s lots of empathy at Guilford for refugees and their stories.” 

Hourie says her years as a refugee inspire her to help others. She knows the power of an education can be transforming. “Growing up my family always stressed college and an education would change your reality and that was true for me,” she says. “I want to help other refugees change their realties, too.” 

Hourie’s parents no longer live in the refugee camp. She helps them financially with their home, comfortable and safe, just outside the camp. She is also helping her siblings with their education, too. 

“My family motivates me every day,” she says. “I miss them and wish I were home sometimes, but they are the ones who motivate me to help other refugees. They keep me going.”