This testimony recounts one young man’s journey from a comfortable, educated life in Afghanistan to becoming a refugee after surviving extreme violence. Rakin describes being kidnapped and held for several months by a criminal group seeking ransom from his family, escaping through a small window during a moment when his captors failed to properly restrain him. After his escape led police to the kidnappers’ hideout, the group sought revenge, ultimately killing his two sisters and two brothers in an attack on his family’s home. Following this devastating loss, he hid for months before his mother urged him to leave Afghanistan to build a future elsewhere, even though he didn’t want to leave her. He eventually sought asylum in Norway and then Italy, where his mother died six months after his arrival.
In Italy, after his temporary housing assistance ended, he experienced several months of homelessness, describing this period as one of profound isolation and despair. He eventually found support at the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center, where psychologists and staff offered him consistent encouragement and a path toward stability. Through the center’s artisan group, he found community, describing the relationships he built there as a “good family” who helped him stop feeling alone. He reflects that while he once dreamed of becoming a psychologist or writer, his hope now is simply to no longer live as a refugee.
