My father came to Germany first and we stayed back. He was afraid that something would happen to us at sea and we would die. He said he would go first, as a victim so to speak, and see what it was like. And he almost died in the sea, but he tried again and made it in the end. With the rubber dinghy. Actually, a maximum of 20 people fit in it, but they put 50 people anyways. And that's when bad things happen and people die. He then said to us, "No, you won't come like that. I'll get you with...

I come from Afghanistan. Germany has been a hope for me, for my health, dreams and a safe life. I have never been so accepted by a person as I was by my "grandma", whom I was lucky enough to meet in a refugee home. We had Christmas time then and all the children got presents. Unfortunately, my present was stolen and grandma saw me crying and looking for my present. Then she tried to help me and brought me a new present the very next day. She took me in like her own granddaughter and made me the...

At the beginning I actually hated myself, I didn't want to stay here, I just wanted to go back. I don't know anyone here, I can't speak the language. When I speak to people in English, they say "Hello! This is Germany. Speak German!". It was all quite stupid somehow. A whole new life. I felt different somehow, I don't belong here, you know. I just want to go back. To be honest, there were also a lot of racist people who said stuff to me. For example, after I learned the language, I think it was...

It was about four years ago. Coming back from a walk, my husband and I were strolling down Salvador Allende Street, past Lidl. Lost in thought, I noticed, more unconsciously, a little boy, maybe seven or eight years old, strolling like us, coming towards us. Obviously he wanted to go back to the "Allendeheim", the shelter for refugees right behind Lidl. When he came closer, I looked at him with interest. "Am I a cinema or what?" the little guy suddenly asked when we were at the same height. We...