I take medicine to sleep. I have a lot of nightmares. There was a lot of fighting in my city. I worked for the Red Crescent. I helped people who were wounded. I’ve seen many dead people. Many people who were wounded. Missing limbs. Cars were bombed every day.

How did I get to Switzerland? I traveled by foot into Turkey. I dream every night about the boat [taken across the Mediterranean] that broke down and the many people who died. The Turkish military came to our aid. The children… it was a catastrophe. It’s not because people don’t have money. That’s not the problem. I tried to cross [the Mediterranean] five times. It’s been a long time [since this happened], but I think about these deaths. I have a psychiatrist here in Geneva and that helps a little.

Certainly, my dreams began a long time ago, what I experienced in my childhood and upbringing which forced me to an unnatural life, filled with bitterness and hardship. The things that had happened to me aren’t easy. My country was defined by this and so was I. I have a transparent soul. I am affected by everything, like a child. So, I cannot bear to witness such scenes. I cannot bear it. I get stirred by emotions from within. What I saw, the explosions… the psychological pressures made me feel like I am a mad man. But since arriving in Switzerland, these feelings shifted, and I feel alive again. I feel there is life. People living a normal life. An organized life.

What I saw on the road to Switzerland destroyed me. Because I saw things on the way here that are unacceptably human. Innocent children who are lifeless. I don’t know, I saw a lot of difficult things and I hope that this would never happen again. I hope countries can provide assistance, whether it be materialistic or moral support for people who have endured such paths. Whether through smuggling or other illegal ways. It is wrong, these methods of smuggling people. I hope community organizations can provide them the help needed. I wish I could be one of these volunteers. I wish I could. But I do not know the language [well enough] or how to do this.