Sudanese climate activist Roaa should have been leading meetings with other youth advocates at a United Nations climate conference in Germany in June.
Instead, the 24-year-old was at home, having wasted hundreds of dollars and nearly two months preparing for a visa that was denied in less than 48 hours. Many of her peers, mostly from the Global North, flew into the city of Bonn without a hitch.
"I was the one who was leading the whole process, but I wasn't on the ground. I cried a lot, like literally every night," said Roaa, who asked that her surname and location not be published.
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