It’s not easy being a refugee — in any country. When I was a child, my family fled war in our native Iraq and resettled in Syria. There were a lot of obstacles, but I attended school and studied medicine at Aleppo University. I did my residency and became a dermatologist.
In 2012, the escalating war in Syria forced my family back to Iraq. I worked under dangerous circumstances, with bombs flying over the medical centers in both Baghdad and Homs, where I used to live. Threats were made against physicians. People were kidnapped. Looking back, I can’t believe that I worked under those conditions.
