3. Rahin's story

Transcript

[Background] Rahin arrived in Europe 6 months ago and currently she has refugee status. She had a long trip to reach Europe and today she doesn't feel very well. She has to visit a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), to get some advice regarding her working status. Let's follow here story:

Julie: Good morning, my name is Julie how can I help?

Rahin: Good morning Julie, my name is Rahin and I am here to check my permission to work status.

Julie: Sure Rahin, I can go through this with you. Before we start, can I just check if you are feeling ok? You don’t look very well at all.

[An image of Rahin trembling]

Rahin: I…..I am fine.

Julie: Are you sure you are ok? You are trembling.

[An image of Rahin in tears]

Rahin: I…..I am sure it is nothing.

Julie: Would you like to sit down? It’s ok if you don’t feel well you can tell me, our conversation is confidential meaning that I won’t tell anyone about this.

Rahin: If I tell you, you have to trust me and not think that I am crazy.

Julie: I promise.

Rahin: Ok. I have been not been sleeping very well. I have been having bad dreams, I saw people getting hurt or captured in my dreams and I would wake up at the middle of the night covered with sweat. Then I won’t be able to go back to sleep because I feel scared.

Julie: That must be difficult having these dreams. What about during the day? How do you feel during the day?

Rahin: I noticed that whenever I hear loud crying or screaming, I would start to sweat and I can feel my heart beating a lot faster. I run away every time because I feel like someone is chasing after me, but when I turned around nobody was behind me. The other day I dropped my purse on the floor and someone was trying to tell me by tapping my shoulder, I jumped and screamed, and I couldn’t stop trembling.

Rahin: I feel less scared when I am at home, but I find myself crying and feeling sad a lot. There are days when I don’t want to get out of bed. I used to enjoy cooking for my family but now I have lost interest in cooking. I tried to cook last week but I burnt the food instead, I don’t know why but I could not focus.