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A large percentage of refugees have low levels of education and official language fluency upon arrival in Canada. Thi spaper discusses educational goals of newcomer refugee youth from three communities in Toronto (Afghan, Karen, and Sudanese), and explores how these are linked to premigration and post-migration determinants. Guided by community-based research principles, we collaborated with eight refugee youth peer researchers and conducted ten focus groups and thirteen interviews with refugee youth. Results show that newcomer refugee youth develop strong aspirations for higher education in Canada as a proactive response to overcome pre-migration experiences of forced migration and educational disruptions. We then discuss how these youth negotiate educational goals in post-migration context in relation to shifts in family responsibilities and everyday encounter with multiple systemic barriers in Canada. In doing this, we examine the thin line between vulnerability and empowerment that refugee youth straddle and reveal policy gaps and contradictions in the depoliticized humanitarianism within refugee resettlement in Canada.

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Craving is a complex psychological condition characterized by impaired dietary intake, sleep disturbance, sexual dysfunction, and drug abuse. Craving may be associated with risk-taking reckless behavior to seek pleasure including cigarette smoking, binge alcohol drinking, and illicit drug abuse (e.g. cocaine, methamphetamine, methylene deoxy meth-amphetamine (MDMA), ecstasy, morphine and heroine). Craving for food, sex and drugs involves the limbic system and prefrontal cortex. Thus, basic understanding of craving is exceedingly important for the better clinical management of major depression, hopelessness, and poor quality of life among young adolescents, as well as morbidity and early mortality among adults. Physical, psychological, nutritional, and medical rehabilitation may be helpful in the effective clinical management of patients with craving of any age, sex and race. Further studies on the psychology of craving will curb the number of hospital admissions as several victims of drug craving develop schizophrenia later in their life, if they remain untreated.