My life before the war was acceptable. I was studying at high school, and I had a certification as a make-up artist from an institute in Damascus. I have also studied one year of accounting in 2015.
In 2015, I had to escape from Syria because of the war. I escaped to Turkey, then to Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Austria, Germany and finally Denmark. I arrived in DK on the 16th of November 2015.
I was sent to Sandholm refugee camp, and was then moved to another camp called Auderød.  After that they moved me to yet another camp in Næstved.
I was granted permission to stay in Denmark on the 28th of January 2016. Now I live in the municipality of Aarhus with my husband. I consider it a fantastic and good life. I am studying the Danish language, and I hope to work in the same field in Denmark, as a make-up artist, as I did in Damascus.
I would love to send a message to the politicians, to look upon refugees in a more open and positive way.

My name is Bahman, 18, from Afghanistan. I had a lot of trouble in Afghanistan because there was war in my country. I did not go to school. When we were sleeping then attacked on doors, then children and women came crying. People were injured then. It was difficult because I would love to move to somewhere and live my life. I felt bad because I came here.

Through the Pakistani mountains I went about 10 days. We were 100. Everyone was thinking about himself. Because we walked far through the mountains, the shoes broke and it blew under our feet. We went through an area between Turkey and Iran called Sarvan. There the whole area was mountainous and very loud. It was a family that had four children to bring. For those with four children it was even more difficult to go to the mountains to Turkey.

They did not manage to leave their one-year-old child between two large rocks. I could not help them because I already had one of their children with me. I had difficulty believing that they could really leave their child between the two rocks in order to move on. They had to move on otherwise they would not leave their children. We all were forced flight from death. When I saw the child lying there only the tears ran. It is still so when I think of the child I get a lump in my throat and think about it. What happened to it, it was only a year old child. Then we went 27 days on the border between Iran and Turkey. We got into Turkey anyway. Afterwards we got to get on a truck. We were many in the car and they had covered the truck with a plastic tarpaulin so nobody could see us. We arrived at the border between Turkey and Greece. There we were allowed to take a plastic boat. We were 45. 20 of us were children and family. It was at. four in the morning. It blew a lot because it was on the boat. The boat swung. Then we moved everyone here and there. I thought that we all died a hundred percent. It’s hard to sit in a plastic boat in the middle of the ocean. I’m still scared when I tell you. At halfway, we noticed that the boat was broken. Me and my mate saw that the boat broke down, then I told him to be quiet otherwise the children and family had to be afraid. I asked him to keep it handy, but it did not work. At first it was small but then it became bigger and bigger. Then all children and family noticed everyone began to cry.

There were two children who yelled and told their parents that they were afraid and wanted the parents to help them. It broke down when we were allowed to swim in the water. I myself had to drink a kilo of water. Either the head or leg was bent down into the water. When the head was in the water then felt uncomfortable and thought I was gone. I thought it was last minute I breathed. You must experience this in order to understand. We were 15-16 minutes in the water and just had to touch our hands. The wave movements moved us upside down. That’s when I realized that the two children who needed help disappeared. There was nothing heard, it was completely dark. You did not see anything. Then we saw that a big long distance boat came against us. I do not know how they were told we needed help. They shouted that we would calm down. They came to help us. That boat was from Greece. They carry us to the boat. There they wondered the two children of their children where their children took the road. After five minutes the two dives jumped into the water and searched for the children but they found none. Their parents fainted by the horrible news. They had difficulty believing what happened. They thought it was meaningless to arrive at Europe without their children.

We got a lot of water in the stomach, when they thought of the stomach, about a kilo of water came from the stomach. It tasted salty. When the head was in the water it hurt the head and got water in the throat. It felt very strange. We did not recognize our own effects other friends. We were completely confused and laughed so much that only the skin and legs were left by us.
We arrived at Budapest’s capital to Hungary then we took the train towards Austria. There people took us in a very nice way. We got bread, water. It felt like we ended up in a completely different world. When we arrived in Austria we thought it was a dream it was incredible. Women, men and children arrived to receive refugees. You got everything you needed. Water, food, and clothes. I still have a pair of shoes that I received. I thought that could not be true. It was just like a dream. Then we went to Germany. There people were very kind to us and everyone got food and everything else. From there we came to Denmark. We stayed there for 3 hours then got water and food and … Then we came to Sweden, to Malmö. Here people were very kind to me so I decided to seek asylum and stay here and live on.
I really enjoy it. Here is a nice country. I can study further. We can build the country together. When I came here, I could not write in my language either. I could not read. I started from zero. Now I can write and talk dari. I can also write and speak in Swedish. I have practice and studied a lot.

A Million Stories Sweden: Nizar Keblawi, Nina Olsson, Sara Sarabi, Malin Gillberg, Daniel Björklund, Mats Nordström.

A Million Stories Sweden volunteers: Fariborz Ghadir, Mohamad Mohsin, Yazan Saad, Tarek Aloudallah, Dalia Saleem, Yara Ali, Ahmad Younes, Chaimae Hamri.

In association with

I fled to my mother in Sweden and took care of her. I was refused my application at the Migration Board, and then my mother began to be worried about my situation.

After a while my mom died of her illness. Right now I go to the friendship association and learn Swedish and hope that I will get a residence permit soon.

Svenska: Jag heter fakhr Alnisaa och kommer från Irak. Jag kom till Sverige 2012. Jag hade många svårigheter i mitt hemland. Min mamma och syskon flydde till Sverige före mig. Min mamma var mycket sjuk.  Min mamma tänkte mycket på mig för jag var ensam i Irak och hade ingen.

Jag flydde till min mamma i Sverige och tog hand om henne. Jag fick avslag från min ansökan hos migrationsverket och då började min mamma bli orolig över min situation.

Efter ett tag gick min mamma bort av sin sjukdom. Just nu går jag till vänskapsföreningen och lär mig svenska och hoppas att jag får uppehållstillstånd snart.

A Million Stories Sweden: Nizar Keblawi, Nina Olsson, Sara Sarabi, Malin Gillberg, Daniel Björklund, Mats Nordström.

A Million Stories Sweden volunteers: Fariborz Ghadir, Mohamad Mohsin, Yazan Saad, Tarek Aloudallah, Dalia Saleem, Yara Ali, Ahmad Younes, Chaimae Hamri.

In association with

Svenska: Jag heter Zainab och kom från Irak till Sverige för 2 år sedan. Jag har svårt att lära mig svenska. Jag saknar min mamma.

A Million Stories Sweden: Nizar Keblawi, Nina Olsson, Sara Sarabi, Malin Gillberg, Daniel Björklund, Mats Nordström.

A Million Stories Sweden volunteers: Fariborz Ghadir, Mohamad Mohsin, Yazan Saad, Tarek Aloudallah, Dalia Saleem, Yara Ali, Ahmad Younes, Chaimae Hamri.

In association with

Svenska: Jag heter Alireza, och jag är 38 år gammal. Jag kom från Iran för två år sedan till Sverige.  Jag är gift och vi bor tillsammans i Sverige.  Vi gifte oss i Iran. I Iran arbetade jag på en fabrik i 15 år. Just nu studerar jag svenska för att studera sedan på universitet. Min son föddes i Sverige och jag önskar honom all lycka i framtiden.

A Million Stories Sweden: Nizar Keblawi, Nina Olsson, Sara Sarabi, Malin Gillberg, Daniel Björklund, Mats Nordström.

A Million Stories Sweden volunteers: Fariborz Ghadir, Mohamad Mohsin, Yazan Saad, Tarek Aloudallah, Dalia Saleem, Yara Ali, Ahmad Younes, Chaimae Hamri.

In association with

My name is Kamar and I come from Aleppo in Syria.

I lived in Aleppo for 17 years. I graduated from high school and then moved to Sweida, a city in southern Syria, because I was admitted to the university with a focus on decoration.

When I had finished my second year, my mother decided that we could flee from Syria. This because of the war or rather the revolution. My mother and dad decided we should go to Sweden. I called my mom one day and talked to her as I usually do, but all of a sudden she told me that they would sell the house. Then I understood that they were serious.

My siblings moved to me in Sweida. First my mother fled in December 2012. She fled across the ocean, with the help of a smuggler,. We are five children and I am the oldest. Everyone moved to me and I became a mother, sister, student, teacher and everything. My dad also moved, but it took a bit longer before he had moved all the furniture and sold the house. Then my mother got a residence permit in Sweden and decided to reunite the family. She sent a request to the Migration Board.

Actually, I did’nt want to leave my studies. I was on my last year and hade the possiblility to work in decoration, as I wanted. But I had to leave everything, I had no choice. The police came to my university, I was persecuted and they interrogated me several times. I had no choice to stay in Sweida and my parents had left. I had to leave the country.

We arrived in Turkey. We were interviewed at Ankara embassy after 1.5 years. After the interview, I was not approved because I was over 18 years old. Then my father and siblings traveled to Sweden. I took them to the airport and took good care of the family.

I stayed in Turkey for 1.5 years without being able to return, leave the country, study or work. I did not know what to do. After 1,5 years I called to Mom and told her to either fly on or I will return to Syria. I told her it did’nt matter what happened, I wanted to return to my studies, my classmates continue with my studies. Mom said I had to wait a little bit for her to send me some money, so I could go to Sweden.

Mom did’nt want me to travel through the ocean with a rubber boat. She herself had tried to travel through the sea five times. One of the times she and my brother Rami were almost drowning. After that she decided not to risk her son and sent him back to me in Sweida. Then she succeded.

I told my mother to take a regular boat from port to port. But I lied. Instead I went to Izmir and got in touch with a smuggler. I paid half of the sum it would have cost for a regular boat.

The rubber boat was three meters long and we were 25 people. The smugglers told us to throw away all our bags. But I didn’t want to, because my mom bought the bag for me during high school. The boat went out to sea and then it took in water. After a while the water reached the stomach. Then the rubber boat stopped and we started to drain the water with our hands and shoes. The boat stopped three times along the way.

One of the people in the boat had tried to flee five times. Suddenly he saw a light and shouted: police! The boat rolled over and everyone ended up in the ocean. Then my feelings came all over me. How could I not have told my mother? Imagine if I die now! I prayed to God: please don’t let me die! I have lied to mom. Last I talked to her every day before. I told you I was going tomorrow but the battery was over. After three hours in the ocean, the light approached and it turns out to be a fishing boat. They picked us up. We were lucky we were in the Greek part of the sea and not in the Turkish. The Greek ships came and picked us up.

When I came to Sweden, I started with SFI. In February, I had an interview with the Migration Board. In May, I got a residence permit. In Mars I had an exhibition and started learning the language. Then I was adopted at the Österlen Art School for Art and Design in Simrishamn. I graduated in two years.

I learned a lot during the education and developed my Swedish. I gained many new contacts and it helped me to choose the right way in the new country. During these two years I worked in a retirement home. School time was from 9-16 and then I worked from kl. 16-22 and weekends with people with Alzheimer’s. I learned to play the cello. Then I continued with Swedish at a distance course. I finished with Swedish 1 but not with the rest.

I finished my education and wanted to go to a university, but I still had Swedish and English left. So instead I searched for Malmö University of Applied Sciences. I studied “content producer”. I started last year and graduated on November 25th. As I am ambitious I found a course called “content manager”. I did’ nt want to lose that course as it complements my education. So I started studying two courses at the same time. I worked at the MAFF Malmö Arab Film Festival at the same time and I worked with them again this year. I also practiced in two departments on SVT, the children’s channel with a program called summer holidays, as a graphic assistant and on SVT design. Yes, things are happening!

A Million Stories Sweden: Nizar Keblawi, Nina Olsson, Sara Sarabi, Malin Gillberg, Daniel Björklund, Mats Nordström.

A Million Stories Sweden volunteers: Fariborz Ghadir, Mohamad Mohsin, Yazan Saad, Tarek Aloudallah, Dalia Saleem, Yara Ali, Ahmad Younes, Chaimae Hamri.

In association with

Svenska: Jag heter Sham och är 12 år gammal. Jag kommer från Aleppo och kom till Sverige för en vecka sedan. Jag har ritat min familj som är utspridda i olika länder.

A Million Stories Sweden: Nizar Keblawi, Nina Olsson, Sara Sarabi, Malin Gillberg, Daniel Björklund, Mats Nordström.

A Million Stories Sweden volunteers: Fariborz Ghadir, Mohamad Mohsin, Yazan Saad, Tarek Aloudallah, Dalia Saleem, Yara Ali, Ahmad Younes, Chaimae Hamri.

In association with

Svenska: Jag heter Layan, kommer från Syrien och har bott i Sverige i 1 år. Jag är 8 år gammal.

A Million Stories Sweden: Nizar Keblawi, Nina Olsson, Sara Sarabi, Malin Gillberg, Daniel Björklund, Mats Nordström.

A Million Stories Sweden volunteers: Fariborz Ghadir, Mohamad Mohsin, Yazan Saad, Tarek Aloudallah, Dalia Saleem, Yara Ali, Ahmad Younes, Chaimae Hamri.

In association with

Svenska: Jag heter Seif Jag var inte glad när jag lämnade mitt land, mina älskade människor, föräldrar, familj, vänner och alla mina underbara minnen. Och jag är säker på att ingen gör det. Jag kom till Sverige för 3 år sedan letar efter ett bättre liv, där ingen plats för krig och förstörelse. Där inget annat land förstör ditt hus och döda dina drömmar.

A Million Stories Sweden: Nizar Keblawi, Nina Olsson, Sara Sarabi, Malin Gillberg, Daniel Björklund, Mats Nordström.

A Million Stories Sweden volunteers: Fariborz Ghadir, Mohamad Mohsin, Yazan Saad, Tarek Aloudallah, Dalia Saleem, Yara Ali, Ahmad Younes, Chaimae Hamri.

In association with

Svenska: Jag heter Mutasem, jag kommer från Jordanien. Det är ledsamt att lämna sitt land, miljön och sina vänner. För att fly från tjuvar och krig för att leta efter livet.

A Million Stories Sweden: Nizar Keblawi, Nina Olsson, Sara Sarabi, Malin Gillberg, Daniel Björklund, Mats Nordström.

A Million Stories Sweden volunteers: Fariborz Ghadir, Mohamad Mohsin, Yazan Saad, Tarek Aloudallah, Dalia Saleem, Yara Ali, Ahmad Younes, Chaimae Hamri.

In association with