I’m on the final hurdle of my current Master’s course and the last bastion of my sanity is slowly ebbing away as the pressure builds to complete my final assignment. The last piece of work I’m doing is based on refugees and their experiences in Northern Ireland.

In Ireland, we have a rich history of pain and struggle, and I’m sure that this has helped in providing a fitting welcome for refugees seeking safety and comfort from war and persecution. The region has accepted hundreds of Syrians as part of the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme by the British government and there are also refugees living here from all over the world.

I’ve spoken to many refugees living here about their experiences in Northern Ireland and for the most part they have been treated well and have been welcomed. But there is the issue of becoming a member of the community and getting the chance to do all the things that everyone else does and to feel the same comfort of home that others do.

Northern Ireland has its own issues with integration, as the region’s two main communities — Protestants and Catholics — lived separately for the most part. While I was growing up, I never met anyone who wasn’t a Catholic. I attended an all-girl, Catholic school run by nuns. And where I lived in Derry, there were few, if any, people who weren’t also raised in the Catholic religion. I never met a Northern Irish Protestant until I worked in Derry years later when I was in my mid-20s.

This is such a sad situation, which is being repeated again and again with the younger generations. People aren’t as open as we would like to think in Northern Ireland. Some people would even say the people there weren’t open to new ideas at all, especially now that the Democratic Unionist Party is wielding power like a preacher wielding the Bible.

But for me, one of the main issues is the school system. If I had been around people of other religions, ethnic groups and nationalities, I would have grown up more aware and perhaps more open-minded. Thankfully, I managed to travel the world and have many amazing experiences to make up for this. But many people don’t have that opportunity.

There are still some reports of hate crimes against people considered different in this society. Just the other day, I saw a report of a transgender woman living in Derry being hounded out of her home by teenagers who had sprayed graffiti on the wall of her house. We need to instil in children the attitude that people must have the freedom to be themselves without derision. And this needs to begin in school and at home as well.

I’m proud that Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom’s refugee scheme and we will hopefully see more people coming into the country to enrich the experiences of everyone living here.

When we look into the eyes of every refugee and everyone else for that matter, particularly those seeking only acceptance, we should see ourselves staring back at us. We are all on this planet together. The sooner we learn that we need to focus on that which connects us and not that which separates, the better the hope in the future for our own collective survival.

Christina Curran is a journalist currently studying a Masters in International Relations at Queen’s University, Belfast.