After fleeing persecution in her homeland, Hasnah Hussin started a new life in the United States helping refugees
Alumna Hasnah Hussin
Hasnah Hussin knows all too well that fear has no borders. She has met hundreds of people who have trekked thousands of miles to get to America. Many of them arrive here drained, spent and afraid. As a refugee community outreach specialist with Catholic Charities of Milwaukee, her first duty is to alleviate their anxiety, even for a short time. “My job is to help others sleep without fear,” said Hasnah, who earned an associate degree from MATC in 2023. “I want to help them not think about anything bad for at least one day.” Her message resonates with her clients because she, too, was once a stranger in a strange land. She was born and raised in Malaysia and came to the United States for the chance to build a better life. “I’m more than an open book,” she said in her spartan office at Catholic Charities. “It’s easy for me to share my story. I can tell the people I work with that I have been on their journey. I believe that they can relate to what I am saying.”
Hasnah, who speaks seven languages, has been with Catholic Charities since July 2021. She creates educational content, coordinates citizenship tutors, prepares clients for naturalization exams and trains volunteers. “Catholic Charities is lucky to have Hasnah on our staff,” said Claire Reuning, associate director of migrant and refugee services with the organization. “It’s not just her impressive language abilities; it’s also the depth of experience she has working with diverse refugee communities in Malaysia and the United States. “She is adept at having difficult conversations about mental health and trauma with our clients, provides compassionate services to clients in crisis, and is always willing to answer questions about daily life in Milwaukee,” Reuning added. When Hasnah graduated fromMATC in the fall of 2023, she was selected as the college’s outstanding associate degree graduate that semester. She addressed her fellow graduates at the commencement ceremony at Fiserv Forum. Two years later, she said the support and encouragement she received at MATC had been the foundation for all her success. “At MATC, I felt involved and I felt that I belonged,” she said. “That gave me the courage to speak.”
A challenging childhood
Hasnah is an ethnic Rohingya, a stateless ethnic group primarily in western Myanmar, formerly Burma, who fled the country to escape violence. The United Nations has called the Rohingya one of the most persecuted ethnic groups in the world. Her parents fled that persecution and settled in Malaysia, where Hasnah was born and raised. Hasnah’s father helped construct the Petronas Twin Towers, an interlinked pair of 88-story skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur. Standing 1,483 feet, the structures were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004. Despite his contribution to this landmark, Hasnah’s father was arrested for being an undocumented refugee and then trafficked to a fisherman. Her mother worked as a domestic in three houses during the day and in a bakery at night to support the family. As a young girl, Hasnah was mocked and ridiculed at school, but she persevered. She played sports and did well in her studies. She completed high school in 2009. Almost every day, Hasnah and her family confronted injustice, intolerance, hostility and persecution, but she never gave in to the hate. She resolutely resisted it with kindness, care, compassion, faith and a deep love for her mother. “In my religion, it’s not OK to continue to be angry, to be vengeful, to have an overwhelming negativity,” she said. “My mother never allowed me to be negative about the world.”
“My job is to help others sleep without fear.”
Refugee to advocate
After high school, Hasnah worked as a researcher, case worker and human rights project training officer with a nonprofit organization in Malaysia. She became an expert in issues affecting refugee children and the mental health of women refugees. She also worked as a medical interpreter. In March 2020, she delivered a TED talk in Malaysia about the refugee crisis. In 2021, Hasnah, her young daughter and her parents came to Milwaukee, which has a large community of Rohingya refugees. She took her job with Catholic Charities, then enrolled at MATC. “Knowledge never ends,” she said. “Concerns change, issues change. Learning is all about strengthening my skills so that I can help people even more.” In December 2025, Hasnah received her bachelor’s degree in social work from Alverno College. She plans to get a master’s degree, provide mental health services and become a Rohingya-speaking counselor. She is also on the path to becoming a United States citizen. Additionally, she is developing a nonprofit organization called New Roots, which will create short videos aimed at helping the Rohingya community and post them on YouTube. She will share her journey and address mental health concerns. “There is a taboo in the Rohingya community about mental health,” she said. “People get stressed, depressed and scared. They shouldn’t be scared to talk about what they are feeling.”
Alumna Hasnah Hussin advocates for refugees as a community outreach specialist.