Photography: Brian Megens
Samina Ansari is a true citizen of the world. She was born in Afghanistan, then moved to Pakistan, to then emigrate to Norway with her family. After studying Cyber Security Law from the University of Oslo, she spent the following year doing internships with the UN. Afterwards, she found another place to call home, Maastricht. Interested by the focus of the programme, she decided to her master in Globalisation Law at Maastricht University.
She is often asked whether she feels Afghan or where does she consider “home” to be. Her answer to that question is simple. “I am Samina, I don’t belong to any country, home is wherever I want it to be”. Through her many travels, she learned that home was not a place, it was a state of mind. She hopes to be able to share this with people struggling with finding their own home.
She is currently studying at SciencesPo in Paris. She really appreciates being part of a vibrant and diverse student community. In her latest project, she worked on legal education in Kabul, Afghanistan. She realized that sometimes, legal mechanisms can fall short when working on development and hopes that her time in Paris will help her learning new instruments in peace building. Co-winner of our pitch night, she is happy to come back to Maastricht to give a talk. And we are delighted to have such a smart and inspiring young woman on our stage for the conference.
Valentin Calomme
Communication and social media