Asala Akram, 13

My name is Asala Akram and I am 13 years old. I am in 6th grade now. I live here with my family in Syria. I am able to go to school here. We left Iraq in August 2005 as the security situation was in constant deterioration.

I have been through so many scary situations that I feel I am changed and that I won’t be the same again. When my friend and colleague was kidnapped and then killed, I was very sad but also scared for my own safety. I always thought what it were me, and not my friend!?

One day I was going to the ladies room and I heard a noise of something ticking like a clock, when I went inside, I saw an unexploded bomb. I run away fast, told my teachers who asked all the students to leave the school. It was on my birthday. I remember I couldn’t celebrate it. I kept thinking what if I was to go to the ladies room in time for the bomb to explode.

My hobbies are reading and swimming. I like using computers although I don’t have one. My dream is to become a journalist.