“I dream that my country will be free one day,” says Shivan Rohat (pseud, 30),

a Kurdish refugee from Syria. Shivan left Syria because military groups “were forcing people to carry weapons and wage wars.” He says this was a “horrendous experience.” It was “very scary, unbalancing, confusing, terrifying.” His journey to Europe was a “really bad experience, like this is one of the things you will not be able to forget.” He had to cross the Syrian border into Turkey, which was guarded by the military, then took a dinghy into Greece. With “fake documents” he managed to get to mainland Europe. Now in the UK, Shivan sometimes feels sad “because I left everything behind. But sometimes, happy because I made it to a place where there is safety.” The most difficult thing, he says, is to be alone: “when I’m alone, I go back to my past.” Yet, he says, he has “the capability of overcoming challenges,” and that his “difficulties will end. And of course, when I overcome it, tomorrow will be right.” Full Story