To be a refugee is to be different from everyone else The moment my dad died in the bombing is burned in my memories. I was so shocked, I didn’t expect to lose him because of the war. I fainted when I
Empathy needs to exist, refugees aren’t a problem to be solved or a phenomenon. You’re only able to truly reflect on the asylum process after you get your status, before that it’s all about action and thinking about what you’re going to
The most important thing to remember is refugees aren't numbers In Syria, every man must undergo mandatory military conscription and I reached the age of conscription after the revolution and war started. Normally, military service lasts for 1 and a half years,
It was more realistic for me to imagine myself becoming an astronaut than a refugee. When the conflict started in 2011, I couldn’t imagine leaving Syria, it was more realistic for me at the time to imagine myself becoming an astronaut than
We need someone to understand what we're feeling The situation in Syria was horrible. The regime has been in power for 30 years and I remember my dad always being afraid because you can’t say anything against the tyranny of the regime. I was
Our chosen home By January 1947 things were starting to get bad, there were a lot of killings and people were being pushed out of their homes. When the decision to partition India was made by Cyril Radcliffe, people had begun migrating in large
It’s our victory to come back to Srebrenica I didn’t want to go to Tuzla, I wanted to stay with my father. I remember I was crying as my mother held me back, she knew if she let go, I would jump off the
I didn’t just want to survive, I wanted to thrive I grew up in a country deeply divided along ethnic lines and as a Tutsi I was very lucky to survive the genocide. We led a privileged life because my Dad was one of
Refugees don’t take, they make a country richer because of their contributions Edited excerpt from the transcript of a phone call with Daniel Nayeri For a 6-year-old, it had all the hallmarks of an adventure even though the bad news kept piling
Refugees will enrich places and make them better I didn’t think of leaving at the beginning of the war, I loved my home and had dreams of living there with my kids but when there was an explosion right next to my husband’s company,
