I grew up in Syria where my life wasn’t about living - it was more about surviving before I came to Wolverhampton

Growing up as a Kurd in the northeast region of Syria, life wasn’t about living - it was more about surviving. 

I remember when my siblings and I went to school, our parents would tell us how good President Bashar al-Assad was in fear that if we were to say the wrong thing by accident, it would potentially lead to some major consequences, like them ending up in prison.

As a kid you don’t pay much attention to politics, economy or international affairs. You want to be free, to play with your friends and learn new things about life. However, between the ages of six and eight-years-old, I became aware that something wasn't right in our society. 

It was almost as if everyone had a mask on when they left their houses, pretending everything was okay and that we had a great ruling government that was for the people of Syria.

You’d see billboards of the president all over the city, in shopping malls, neighbourhoods, mosques, schools, and basically anywhere where people would live, eat, shop, pray and learn.

I remember it like yesterday. It was 2011. I was seven-years-old and I started hearing rumours that people wanted a new government in place, those rumours quickly became louder and louder, eventually leading to a full civil war in the country.

It was like being in a movie; authorities would beat people for simply practising their right to freedom of speech just because they opposed the Assad regime, tear grenades would be thrown into crowds of people, leaving everyone in panic, and many would be imprisoned and tortured very badly, and sometimes even killed.

It was like a domino effect. The economy plummeted and businesses were shutting down daily, leading to massive increases in inflation and simple necessities like food, water and electricity becoming almost unaffordable.

The more this civil war went on, the more the regime led by Bashar Al-Assad and previously by his father Hafiz Al-Assad, decided to punish the citizens, by cutting water and electricity supplies for up to 14 hours a day for month after month. 

We became poorer and poorer, and every day was a fight for survival. As a child, you start to think to yourself, is this what life is? 

Am I supposed to be scared to go outside because the authorities might kidnap me? 

Am I supposed to act like someone I’m not just so I don’t bring the spotlight onto myself? 

Am I not supposed to be playing with my friends and enjoying life? It was a constant internal and external battle. 

The situation became so bad within the country that my mum being a primary school teacher and my dad who was running the family business decided in 2014 that the future of me and both my younger siblings was more important than trying to survive another day in a society where food and water was a luxury.

Ironically they took the biggest risk and decided to leave everything behind to start over again in a new country, in our case, the UK was the place of refuge.

Now a decade later my life has turned out in ways I could never have imagined. Great education, making new friends, learning and embracing a new language and culture are some of the few opportunities that I’ve taken advantage of.

 I currently study journalism at the University of Wolverhampton with aspirations of becoming a journalist and giving a voice to others which I and my people never had.