Before the war, life was good. We weren’t rich, I was just a mechanic. We lived in a nice safe neighborhood. Then the war started, and the rebels came to town. Our neighborhood was bombed. They captured children, held them for ransom and forced us to pay money to get them back.

I feared for my little girls’ lives so we fled. Syria is my homeland. It is hard here because we speak a different language, and must start over in a new country. I am a simple man now working as a day laborer when I can get work here in Northern Iraq.