“My father loved children. But I was his favorite because I was the small one.”

“The army searched our house six times. The first two times they knocked on the door.”

“I’m sixty-two years old. I was a government clerk in Baghdad.”

“I lived in Mosul for five months under ISIS. I tried to avoid trouble but one of my neighbors reported me for shaving my beard”

“I studied to be a teacher, but I’m young, so I knew I’d be forced to fight.”

“I wish I could have done more for her. Her life has been nothing but struggle.”

“My husband and I sold everything we had to afford the journey.”

“There is no security in Baghdad. We lived in constant fear.”

“ISIS looks for any reason to punish you.”

“The extent to which refugee children have been conditioned by their environment is heartbreaking.”

“A friend called me at work and told me that a sniper had shot my youngest brother.”

“I’m working as an interpreter. I know what these people are going through. “

“I worked as a waiter in Saudi Arabia for seven years to save money so that I could build a house in Syria.”

“I saw the army burn my neighbor’s house. They set it on fire and took photographs while it burned.”

“Every month we had to go to Baghdad to get my son’s eyes treated.”

“Before leaving for Europe, I went back to Syria to see my family once more.”