The personal experience I’m sharing is about my life because I have many things to tell. First, I’m a Syrian girl living in the U.S. My family never thought about moving to another country other than Syria because everything we want is there for us. 

On April 29, 2012 on a cloudy day, my parents were packing a couple of things because there was a bombing close to our town. They were in a hurry and after that, we went into the car. I remember telling my mom to get me my new umbrella. She said we would come after four or five days but these four to five days became twelve years without being in my country. The situation was getting worse because of the war when we left Syria we went to Turkey, a neighboring country. I didn’t understand much of what was happening but my parents were responsible for us. Thank God I had a good life in Turkey. 

I was four when I left Syria and lived another four years in Turkey but after that, my dad had a friend here in the United States who told him life was good over here, it was better than in Turkey. My parents decided to leave Turkey and come here in 2016. I moved from Turkey to the U.S and I wasn’t used to being in a foreign country because when I was in Turkey my relatives were all next to me. In Turkey  the school I went to was an Arab school but here I was just like a stranger. I didn’t know anything about the people, language, and places. 

After years of living here and with my family helping me and making me confident I’m now happy that I’m with my family and in good health. I know that I went through a lot of things like leaving my country to escape war and moving from Syria to Turkey and then to the United States. I know each person is tested but what I want is to see my country again because I know nothing about it. 

I think this experience or life timeline made me confident and stronger to know that not everything goes right every time because my mom told me that she never thought about leaving Syria. After all, she was raised there and all of her family was next to her. I think God tested me and all Syrians to see how patient we are but I didn’t suffer as much as other Syrians did. I want to thank God first. After all, he loves me because he is making me live in a house with a family and whatever I want or need is with me. Many people are suffering now because of the war this is not because of them this is because the people who start the war have all of the blame.