“Making people happy, contributing to us, to the human being, that makes me happy,”

ong> says Shada (30). Now living in Scotland, Shada left Kurdistan during the Saddam regime with her family when she was ten. “It was terrifying as a child… running, hiding, people telling you to hide.” They travelled through Turkey overland and to Italy by sea. “One day the waves got so bad, we were told that I don’t think we’ll make it,” she says. “Water came in from everywhere and people start screaming.” She looks back on the experience as having two sides. “I can never describe in what happened in one word. Because I could say it was traumatizing, but at the same time, it grew me, and it made me appreciate… that I can live today.” Growing up in Scotland, she says she faced “a lot of racism,” but that “everything changed slowly as the society became more accepting” of immigrants. Now working as a scientist, she says “I try to work hard so I can be a hope for a better future.” Full Story