Personal stories

The pianist from the ruins in Syria: Aeham Ahmad’s autobiography published

He is known from the famous photo where he is playing piano against the backdrop of the bombed-out Yarmouk camp outside Damascus. His recently published biography tells the moving story of the destruction of his world and the journey that led him to Germany.

Chadrac Akolo: 'Hunger was a part of my life'

Stuttgart's Chadrac Akolo is off to a flying start in the Bundesliga. The Democratic Republic of Congo international has come a long way since arriving in Switzerland as a refugee at the age of 14.

The story of Mary, victim of 'an empty promise'

''I wish people would realize that we all have the same blood running through our veins'', says Mary, who has left Nigeria for Italy. A video made by the organization PositiveNegatives talks about her story.

"They threw my wheelchair into the water"

In search of a better life in Europe, Qusai managed to cross the sea to reach Greece despite being tied to a wheelchair. The story of his journey from Syria to the Netherlands appears in a video produced by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

'I've suffered so much'

This is the story of Aisha, a woman who fled from Ivory Coast to save her daughter from genital mutilation, but ended up in the hands of people smugglers.