Heba

Heba Alibrahim: And sometimes I imagined that maybe the next day I would no longer be alive. Or that I would be killed by a bomb or an airplane that can drop something. And no one would remember you. Pictures of bombed buildings. I have seen things I wasn't supposed to see. Images that you can never forget.

Nametitle: Heba Alibrahim. Syrian Refugee in the Netherlands and War Child Activist. Injured people, you see death, actually. And you smell death. All the medication, all the screaming, all the fear.

Title: Since 2015 Heba lives in The Netherlands. Before then in Deir es-Zur, Syria. Her father is both a doctor and owner of two hospitals there. Until he is arrested by the regime…

Heba Alibrahim: My father was sent to jail because he was treating patients. Regardless of their religion, regardless of their colour, their political ideas. So he was threatened by the regime and told: 'You need to close the door of the hospital. You're no longer allowed to work as a doctor.'

*Music plays*

Heba Alibrahim: Especially after my father had been in jail for like a month and we couldn't speak to him, we didn't even hear anything about him, it was really... A dark time in my life. When my dad disappeared and I was living in insecurity every day.

Title: The Alibrahim family decides to run. Four years later they arrive in The Netherlands. Where Heba, now 23, studies psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and is a volunteer for War Child, working on education. Heba Alibrahim: Which grade are you in? Fifth? No, read it first. This. Shoulder. Yes? Shoulder.

Nametitle: Kate Radford – War Child: Everybody thinks it's just about reading and writing, but it's also about feeling you have a future and that you're well-equipped to deal with that future. Heba Alibrahim: Move your hand. Yes? This way. And stop. Yes. That's correct. Good job.

Kate Radford – War Child: We're actually hoping that before the end of 2020, we'll reach 170,000 children. Heba Alibrahim: I am studying Psychology at the moment. I feel the need, especially after the war and what people have seen... There's a lot of traumatised people, a lot of people suffering from mental illness so it is really important that they can seek help. Looking back at these memories, they made me who I am today. Heba, a strong woman, I can say. And they helped me realise how tough the world can be. I'll never forget these images or erase them, but I'm living peacefully with them.

End title: Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken. The International Conference on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Crisis Situations will take place on 7 & 8 October in Amsterdam. www.government.nl/mindthemindnow