How did we let it happen?

Born and raised on the outskirts of London, England, Joellyn Sheehy was home educated until her late teens, when she traveled to the U.S.A. for a year of high school and eventually college. She graduated summa cum laude from Union College in May 2014 with a B.S. degree in International Rescue and Relief and is presently employed with the college’s academic administration. Her areas of study include mass humanitarian crises and modern-day slavery, and her senior thesis focused on “Exploring Self-interest as a Motivating Force for Support-ing Efforts to Limit Human Trafficking.” Joellyn was among the first participants in the Tom Carroll Lincoln club’s program of memberships for college students. “How Did We Let It Happen?” was presented at the Tom Carroll Lincoln Torch Club on September 16, 2013. Probably some four million people have fled the Syrian Arab Republic, and a further third of the population is displaced internally, sometimes in horrifying conditions, including starvation. By mid-2014, the dead numbered more than 170,000. Despite peace efforts and elections, there is still little sign of the conflict abating.