Ali, 28, is an Iraqi refugee living in Slovenia, a country he hadn’t known it even existed before he had crossed the river from Croatia in 2015 and was stopped by Slovenian police there. Little did he know then, that he will stay in this tiny European country on the sunny side of the Alps for long, skeptical of foreigners, where welcoming and inclusiveness are attitudes of individuals and specific non-governmental organizations, and where the general national atmosphere is (much like in its neighboring countries) rather the opposite.

In this short film Ali tells his personal story (his voice is replaced by the narrator’s as he was unable to read his own story) in his new environment, where he found himself because he hadn’t had a better choice: “The only way to walk away from death for me was to leave,” he explained in an interview. This story aspires to show a person, an individual, a fellow human being behind a “refugee” label and the statistics that we are being served on every step, especially by those whose interest is division and hatred.

This short film is part of a package of multimedia educational materials for secondary and elementary schools on migration, emigration and international protection issues, made in cooperation with APIS Institute.