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Ali , Northern Iraq in charge told them to be quiet . Terrified , he sat with his knees tucked against his chest . He lost track of the time . Suddenly the truck stopped , and someone opened the doors . After walking for several hours , they arrived in a refugee camp .
The camp was huge . Hundreds of tents were aligned in rows , children ran everywhere , mothers were cooking at campfires , men smoked in groups . Ali felt scared . He was told by the others that this camp was dangerous but that , if he had ID and some luck , he could get asylum abroad .
One day , Ali was led by an employee into an office in the camp . The official wanted to know his age and whether he had identification . Ali took his ID from a plastic bag . The man started typing on his computer . Ali was photographed and fingerprinted . Many months later , Ali was told he could collect his belongings because he had been granted asylum abroad . After a long flight , Ali arrived in his new country and was placed in a reception centre . A nurse gave him a medical examination . The abuse he had suffered was not mentioned . At the centre , he was perceived to be a very scared and shy boy that no one could reach ; he was especially inaccessible to male employees . Ali had his own room ; on most days he stayed in bed .
Ali received winter clothes and started to attend school . But he did not talk much , looked no-one in the eye , and sat by himself at lunch . During lessons , he seemed distant and unconcentrated . At night he continued to have nightmares . When he woke up screaming , he turned on the light and calmed himself down , but he kept his eyes open , sitting in his bed in the stillness of the night . Ali looked nervous every time someone approached him and , if someone came too close , he quickly walked away . In the classroom , his feet were in constant movement , and he often stared out of the windows without paying attention to his teachers .
When Ali returned to his room , he felt lonely and sad . Sometimes he thought of his mother , which made him cry in silence . One day , when Ali tried to walk around the centre , he saw a group of young people talking and wanted to hang out with them . Then he heard the voice of an older man , which reminded him of his stepfather . He stood paralysed for a few seconds , then fled to his room .
Subsequently , an employee of the centre knocked on his door and gently invited him for a walk . She started to spend more time with him and gradually Ali began to settle into the community .
REFLECTION QUESTION
Questions to reflect on
• How can it affect a survivor , to be abused by a person he used to trust ?
• How can trauma still influence a survivor later in life when the circumstances have changed for the better ?