鈥淗ere, everything is difficult. For everyone, but especially refugee children like me, alone.鈥

When 16-year-old Ali* first arrived in Greece two years ago, he鈥檇 already been arrested multiple times for trying to cross European borders to join his older brother, who had invited him to come live with him in Germany.

While waiting for his reunification appeal to be answered, Ali moved into an apartment in Athens for unaccompanied, asylum-seeking children. The apartment building is run by the 探花精选 (探花精选), which also provides social workers, legal assistance, psychological counseling, life skills classes, and other support to the young residents. There, Ali is spending time with other teenagers like himself, getting the care he needs, going to a local high school, and learning how to live independently.

Ali鈥檚 family were originally from Afghanistan, but he was born in Iran, where Afghan refugees and their children are often denied education, employment, health care, and even freedom of movement.

Refugees hoping to find safety from the violence in their home country are instead at risk of forced labor, forced deportation, and forced family separation. And they face maltreatment and physical abuse in Iran鈥檚 detention and deportation centers.

Like most Afghans living in Iran, Ali didn鈥檛 have identification documents鈥攕o he was unable to go to school. He started working to help his family when he was just nine years old.

鈥淚 was working 15-16 hours a day. I worked like this for five years. It was not fun.鈥

When Ali鈥檚 father died, his family was left with nothing. 鈥淔or two or three months, my mother and I slept in a park,鈥 he recalls. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I had to start working.鈥

For two or three months, my mother and I slept in a park. That鈥檚 why I had to start working.

Without documents, Ali had virtually no rights in Iran, so he had no option but to leave the country with his mother, his married sister and her family.

Unfortunately, while traveling from Iran to Turkey, Ali became separated from his mother, who was deported to Afghanistan.

Although just a young teenager, Ali was determined to reach his brother in Europe and make a new start. 鈥淚 tried to get to Greece eight times across the Evros River. Every time the Greek police would catch me and deport me back to Turkey.鈥

Ali remembers one particularly precarious crossing attempt: 鈥淭he boat sank, and we had to swim across the river. I know how to swim but my sister doesn鈥檛, so I took her by the hand, and I started swimming.