Before arriving in Spain, I was living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was studying Jewellery design and also selling some jewelry to friends and friends of friends. I also sold natural products for a brand and I was being paid for my job at a restaurant that had to close. I was also going to drama and dance classes. I lived with my boyfriend and we broke up when I decided to move to Spain.

It has been a long time since I left my home-country, it has been around four and a half years more or less. The life I had before leaving was pretty stable. I had an apartment that I owned, I was living there with my ex-girlfriend and I was studying and working at the same time.

My life before leaving for Spain was quite fine, I was living in Greece for a couple of months and I was just about to start my Master’s in England. I had a job and I was looking for a place to live and I knew Spain from earlier, I loved the lifestyle so that’s why I decided to come here.

Actually I work on the Untold Stories’ website, so I will see this story before it is published on the website. My name is Aleksey, I am originally from Russia and I am 40 years old. I went away from Russia more than 10 years ago. The first country I went to was Egypt, I stayed there for 2 to 3 years. The second country I went to was Greece for one year and then I was in Vietnam for 5 years. After all of that, I came to Barcelona in Spain. My girlfriend had a course here, so I came with her and we have been staying here for 2 years.

My name is Moussa Diop, I’m 46 years old, and I’m from Dakar in Senegal. I left Senegal in 2007. Many people leave Africa because the life there is tough – people go in search for a better life. The neighborhood where I was born was not wealthy and had a lot of vulnerable families and economic hardships. I grew up by doing many artisanal and artistic projects with the homeless kids who lived there, so they could have better tools to gain a living in such a difficult situation.

I am Sunabh. My full name is Sunabh Adray. I am From Nepal and I think I have been living here in Barcelona for three years, since July 2017. My home-country is a very beautiful country. It is obviously a bit poor, but 40% of the population are pretty okay. However, the rest of the population is really poor, so the condition is favourable for the ones who are in a better position and can afford things. They can do anything, they can explore and travel. I have loved travelling since my childhood. So I travelled to many parts of my own country and some parts in India as well. Because India is close and we don’t need a visa or anything like that. If you have a car and some bikes, you can go directly. It’s like crossing a

As the city of Barcelona, I am myself an ethnic cocktail. Born in Argentina 27 years ago, with  Croatian-Italian-Galician roots. Since I’ve started living here, which was not that long ago, I’ve discovered that my Sicilian  surname is actually a Catalonian one. A trace – probably – from what once was the Aragón  Kingdom. In a way, this idea of ‘mixed roots’ fades any possible desire of establishing a ‘true  origin’ for anyone.  

My name is Idriss. I don’t know my age. I come from Burkina Faso. In my family, I was the little brother and I had an older sister. We lost our family when I was 6 years old and we stayed in our village without knowing where to go. It wasn’t very easy because other adults in the village didn’t treat us very well. After that, my sister quickly got married  in Ouagadougou. When she got married, it wasn’t easy for me, I was very young.  

My name is Berkem. I come from Turkey. I came to Barcelona just because I didn’t see any future for me in Turkey. Because of the government and our so-called President being a dictator, I felt pushed to leave the country as soon as possible after I finished my high school education. Despite that, I had very good moments. I used to do a lot of windsurfing while I was growing up since we lived close to Alacati, one of the best windsurfing spots in the world. I was really into extreme sports like windsurfing, snowboarding, and skateboarding. I was competing for windsurfing professionally but ended up leaving the sport after I left Turkey. My favorite memories about my country were always at the sea or in the mountains. The summer vibe is something that I can’t get enough of

My name is Miki. I am one of  3 brothers and sisters. My mom is from an Italian immigrant family and my dad was actually grown up in an orphanage. Their parents were Irish, but they weren’t so good parents, so they left him in an orphanage. And then they both moved to London, and they met up in an Italian youth club, even if my father was Irish and not Italian. It was a nice upbringing. I have a lovely family who I’m very close with. I loved my life before leaving. It was very different, I was working in a hospital just outside London. Obviously working in a hospital during COVID-19 was quite challenging. So it was a very different life. But I lived with a girl that I worked with. We kind of shared and all of

My name is Abdullah. I come from Egypt. Before coming to Barcelona, I lived in Cairo. My life in Cairo was focused on studies. I studied a lot even before going to university. I was in top classes in secondary school, which is a class for the best students. Nevertheless, I preferred to not attend each lesson. I really enjoyed studying by myself. I was also used to running away from school to play football. I was an amateurfootball player for more than 10 years. Even if I studied from 7 am to 7 pm every day, I would go to play football. This is what I love. In Egypt, I graduated in electronics and communication engineering. My first desire was to study medicine or to work on things related to space, like an astronaut or something like that. Most

I am Ruben Adarme, I am from Venezuela and 29 years old and I have been living here for one year and a half. Back in Venezuela I can say I was one of the lucky ones. I guess you heard about what was going on there. During my childhood we were below medium class, but after that my family had a farm, a really big one. So in a few years the farm started making a lot of money. We were not rich but we started having a better life. After that, all this crisis started and we went back to medium class. But the medium class is slowly disappearing in Venezuela. It is either you have a lot of money which is very few people or you are really poor. I guess I had a normal life and

I was born in a family of two young parents. My mom got pregnant when she was 19 and my father was 22 at that moment. I think that was the biggest reason they got divorced very quickly. A few years later my mom decided to move and we moved to Edinburgh, very far from my hometown. I was changing schools oftenly. So I was a child who was never staying put, I was always traveling somewhere. I think that it is something that was already in my blood because later I never wanted to stay in my hometown when I was growing up.

My name is Sunday, I’m from Nigeria, and I’m soon to be 40 years old. More specifically, I come from the Edo State, situated in Southern Nigeria, which is predominantly catholic. I’ve been living in Barcelona for the last 14 years. Yet I still have not received my papers  which would allow me to work legally. I spend my nights sleeping in an occupied house in  the outskirts of the city, along with my pregnant wife and 2-year-old daughter.

In 2014, the revolution started in Ukraine and at that time I was working in a political party as a prosecutor for the opposition party. I was very confident and convinced that I could help to change the future, change my country for the better like to be in the European Union. Unfortunately, it did not work well. It was a difficult time so when I finished my university, and my work at a political party I decided to leave the country for good. I found a European project that could economically help. Then, I did the application process, and it last 6 months until one Spanish organization selected me as a volunteer. After that, I applied for a Visa to come to Spain. In 2015 July, I arrived to participate in that project which was related to Erasmus.  

My name is Andrea Sierra, I am 34 years old and I come from Venezuela. I was born in Venezuela, in Merida, specifically. My mom comes from Venezuela and my dad is Spanish, he came from Madrid. My childhood was really calm, I think typical. From 4 until 17 years old I studied in a nun school. It was only girls. I had swimming lessons, dance lessons. The school was very strict but the education there was very good. I left Venezuela because I had this curiosity about living abroad and I always thought about living in another country. One day, my friends from the university told me about opportunities to study abroad. I was curious so I thought “let’s do that”. The first country I moved to was Ireland. I was working there and studying English. When I moved

I decided to leave my country due to some coincidences and inner transformation that I was passing through. I came to Barcelona with the idea to do one thing and in the end, I am doing a completely different one. While in México, I was in my comfort zone working as a psychologist  but when my boyfriend decided to go abroad and do a master’s, I thought that also could be  a good idea for me. I wanted to go abroad because until that moment I only went to Israel – I am Jewish – and after high school, we do a trip but it is kind of a trip with friends. Normally this lasts 1 year but in my case was only 6 months because of some conflicts going on in Israel. Then, having that in mind I decided

I was 19 years old when I left. Me and my parents we always had a very good relationship, we have always been very close to each other. We are always together, we do sports together, meditate, we go jogging, we travel… a very good relationship. So coming here – especially being the younger daughter – leaving my parents and my sister, it was a shock. In Brazil, I  was living with my parents and my sister, I had a long-lasting relationship, I was a school coordinator and an English teacher. So I had a life that we can practically call “stable” and that was good. I worked, I studied, but to a certain extent, I was kind of accommodated. So this feeling of being accommodated – as well as the breaking up of my relationship, cause that made me

I believe I can’t ask for anything more from the life I had in my country because I had everything. There I had good opportunities as a small business owner.  In El Salvador I was always dedicated to my work, I had two taxis, four corn mills and I was able to earn some money and support my family. I also enjoyed working with electric welding and doing manual labor. I had grown up watching my father doing it. I learned everything from him, and that is why I liked it so much.  

My name is Akshita and I am from India. I left India when I was 21. I had just finished college and a few internships and I left to pursue my master’s degree in Italy. I was living a “standard urban life”, a concept which is especially relevant to my city, Mumbai.  The city is busy and there is constantly something going on. I led a social and busy life which is something that almost everyone in Mumbai does.

I grew up in a traditional middle-class family in Chengdu, where the Pandas are from, so pretty laid back. My parents are the kindest people, I’m so grateful for having them. My favorite memory is my 6 years in primary school, everything was so pure. With my classmates, we laughed and cried all together. Funny how 10-year-old kids know unity better back then.  So nostalgic when I think about it, real-time back in the 90s you know, I can still see those rising dust in the playground, those jumping figures in the summer haze. Then, the competition started to kick in at Middle school, especially for us the “one-child policy” generation. It was a hell of a lot of competition in school, no more spare time, only homework and extracurricular tutoring. High school was the beginning phase of western or

My childhood was as beautiful as any child with his parents could ask for. My family was from the educated class, made up of teachers and officers. In Iraq, I studied the fields of psychology, sociology, and politics. Then after an additional four years of study, I worked with a judge in the court for a year. I also had a shop selling underwear for women and worked as a taxi driver using my own car.  

My childhood was good. I was a very quiet child. I was born in a state called Maranhao, which is in the Northeast part of Brazil. I grew up in a very small and very poor neighborhood, a bit similar to the favelas you see on the TV. It was very interesting though because all my relatives and I lived on the same street. I was happy having all my family living nearby.

My name is Ramin and I am 23 years old. I was born in a nuclear family in Tehran, Iran. I have to  say that I was lucky to have lovely parents who provided a stable upbringing for me and my sister. They  played an essential role in our upbringing. Moreover, they have been guiding us in the philosophy of life  since childhood. Both my parents played a unique role in my life. Indeed, my father as an entrepreneur  taught me the ABCs of running a successful business. And, my mom explained to me how to live a joyful  life both internally and externally. During 21 years of my life in Iran, I lived a blissful life that was filled  with full of pleasant memories. However, there were some tough moments in our lives, but we learned  to forget the

Before, life was not very nice, not very good. I was with my step-mom and I hated it because she doesn’t like me. I am not her son… she doesn’t like me because I am not her son. She didn’t take care of me as a child. My dad worked as a lifeguard and my mom worked as a teacher. My step-mom stayed at home with us. I have 1 brother and 1 sister. I also have a step-brother. My brother is 1 year older than me and my step-brother is 10 years younger than me. My sister is 18.  

I have fond memories from Honduras. My favorite one is definitely the first time I performed on a huge stage, in front of thousands of people, dancing. My passion is dance, music, and theater. It was an imponent scenario, with thousands of people. It was my first time in front of such a big public, so I was full of adrenaline.

Before living here, I lived the life that people from my territory were dreaming of. In my family we are 5 sisters and 1 brother, everybody was settled in their own lives and I was very happy there. The best thing about my life in Bangladesh is that I achieved some goals I had been dreaming of for a long time. I did my graduation in Medical Physiotherapy in 2015, and in my field I was top among all the universities and I also received a gold medal from my university board. I was the youngest physio to ever win the Physio star competition. I was a university teacher and I have a journal which has been published. I also was working with the Bangladesh national Cricket team and with the Bangladesh Navy. I went to many tournaments there.  The

It all started on 11th March 2011, the biggest and toughest war yet. At first it was hard to accept it, but in order to win our freedom, we knew we would lose friends, family or even our country at some point. Our dreams weren’t so big; we just wanted a country in which we could think and live freely, but this was just an illusion that could never happen. Of course we realised it a few years after the revolution began, then we could see clearly that we would never succeed. However, we always had hope that we would.  

My name is l’Ebrima, I am 17 years old and I come from the Gambia. Life in the Gambia was very nice. I lived with my family there, I had many friends and, therefore, it was very good for me to be there. I was going to school every day. I just stopped attending classes because many of my friends were playing football, so I left school to play football and doing some business to help the family. My favorite moment in life was before I came here. It was the day I played football before coming here. That was the best moment.

My name is Ali. I’m from Pakistan, but I spent a lot of my life outside, in Saudi Arabia. I was born in 1991 and we first moved to Saudi Arabia when I was 6 months old. We changed cities every couple of years. My dad was trying to do business there, but his business failed. Because of that, he didn’t have another option left, so he sent us back to Pakistan. To me, living in Pakistan was a good experience. I was really happy because I had a lot of cousins there, a huge family, so I was having a really nice time. My dad got sick and came back from Saudi Arabia. He was there for some months and we didn’t have any source of income. We are farmers, but it was not enough for the whole family

My name is Baba and I come from Ghana. Back in Ghana, I was training boxing. I used to do that because that is what my father was, so he trained me to be a boxer. I didn’t use to go to school there, all my dedication was to step up and be a boxer. I left my country in 2018. I lived all my life there, but then my father passed away and it was a really difficult moment for me. I couldn’t stay in Ghana anymore, so one of my friends was planning to go to Algeria and said that if I wanted I could follow him. So I went to Algeria and started working there. I stayed there for 9 months. Then we came to Barcelona.

My name is Leidy and I am twenty-three years old. I am from El Salvador and was born in 1996. In El Salvador, I was studying at university for half a cycle of the first year of university. I was studying languages. I participated in a local channel in my city where I volunteered to edit local news. I also participated with other young people in a youth music program where we broadcasted live shows about important topics and interviewed the public. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Administrative Assistance and I did my internship in the town hall of my city where I lived. I also helped with the accounting of the business that my parents had. I left my country when I was 19 years old. When I arrived in Barcelona, I started working at a clothing

The war has been going on in Afghanistan, my native country, for about 40 years. Since I opened my eyes to the world, I was more familiar with the sound of a bomb and the world outside than the words of my own mother and father. My childhood was always spent indoors because there was no security outside. I never understood or experienced how it feels to run and play in the park, which is something all children should experience when young. We didn’t sleep well at night due to the sounds of bombs and guns. Our hearts shook with every bomb that dropped and we decided to take refuge in the basement of our house for hours with candlelight. My childhood memories are filled with nothing but war and migration. The only thing I can recall that I liked

What I miss the most about my country is my family. In wintertime, Christmas has never been the same. I traveled, I have been through Spain having Christmas with my friends and new years’ eve, but it is never the same… that coziness and the family. You get used to having it without your family, I suppose, but I do miss it a lot. Back in Romania, I had a normal family. I have one smaller brother, 3 years younger than me. We lived in one small and quiet city. Life there was pretty normal I would say, but drow. I never traveled too much so I couldn’t actually compare with anything but only what I could see on the television and American movies. So when I was 19 and I finished my studies, it came the moment for me

Well, I am Ahid, I was born in a small village in Swaida, Syria. I remember myself as a good student with a lot of funny stories from my childhood, snowball battles with all the village, me and my uncles dancing the crazy Syrian Dabke, school trips, and much more. I liked technology, and I was one of the first in my village to get a computer, then I found myself disassembling and reassembling it again and again (luckily, it managed somehow to stay alive until now). By the age of 15, I was the computer technical guy of the village and then the same story occurred with my first Toshiba laptop. I also liked traveling and interacting with other cultures, and I still remember that noisy sound while I was connecting to that lazy slow internet in order to

Life in Brazil was very overwhelming. I worked for 4 years in a company as a receptionist. I worked 12 hours every day so it was very complicated. It reached a point where I thought that 4 years in that life was enough. I needed to change, to go to a new place. I needed to have a new experience. I say my process of deciding to come to Spain was craziness. I decided and organized everything in 3 months. I resigned from my old job, then I started searching for a way to come. I found the au pair program, which I found out to be the easiest and cheapest way to come here. And then I just thought yeah, I am leaving! Goodbye! It was a quick process, a bit crazy. I couldn’t plan everything very well, and

I grew up in a polygamous family, with 6 siblings. I am the first-born, so I grew up being responsible for the rest of my siblings. I grew up in Western Kenya in a village where the main activity is farming. My parents are separated but we lived on a farm with my mom and my paternal grandmother, who was a teacher. After she retired, she continued with her farming and we helped her. Sometimes we went to help my grandfather who is a medical doctor in his clinic. I left Kenya last year. I was 30 years old. In Kenya, I worked as a journalist for a few months because I studied Linguistics, Media, and Communication. But I got tired of journalism, so I moved into the hospitality industry and worked in hotels. I loved almost everything about my

My name is Zaquiel, I am 24 years old, and I have been living in Barcelona for one and a half years now. I am passionate about many things as such technology, electronics, modeling, and news. I would like to progress in this country, I guess it is easier to advance in life here than in Latin America. You know, normally, people have good memories of their country. I don’t have good memories of my country because I didn’t live the best of Venezuela. I have only 24 years and all I basically have known is the same dictatorship that we can see right now. Maybe some birthdays and friends I had there are good memories. However, many of them have already left and are living in Latin America or around the world. So it may sound like a lie,

Life in Macedonia was cool. It was a calm life, completely different from what I am living here. Everything was a lot smaller. I was happy, living with my family. We spent every summer with my grandparents in their village and working in the countryside. We were always surrounded by nature, we didn’t have internet. Actually, I didn’t have a laptop until I was 18, that wasn’t my reality. I liked spending time with the people around me, I had a lot of friendships and had a lot of fun with my friends.

I have very fond memories of my childhood. I would spend a lot of time with my family,  especially with my grandmother, I would practice a lot of sports and different activities after school. My family is very loving. We have a really strong bond and we would spend a lot of time together. Both of my parents are self-made professionals, born and raised in Morocco. Ever since I was a kid I remember being really sociable, so I would love to make new friends – I  think it’s a trait that I got from my grandmother – she would literally talk to anyone. I also loved to paint, which I still do, and this I got from my grandfather that is a talented artist. I loved going to the countryside on a sunny day, and spend the day there