“When I arrived in Switzerland 4 years ago, I thought: I’m a child again. You have to learn how to speak again, and you hear things you never heard in your life. At first, when someone would come towards me, I’d run away because I didn’t know what to say (laughs)! And it was difficult to depend on my husband. I already had a life in Brazil, I lived on my own, and I had been a psychologist for 2 years. And here, I had to ask my husband for money to buy something, and all.

I also started over all my professional life. There’s a lot of bills to pay here, so I prioritized work. I worked as a nanny and for a cleaning company. It was hard. I remember one day I was cleaning at Uni Mail, I entered a room and started to cry. At that moment, I wanted so much to be on the other side as a student. It hurt my self-esteem so much. But that’s the life of a foreigner who goes through expatriation, and now I realize that all of this helped me. Now I work at Burger King. It’s a bit hard, but my French got better, so I’m really happy.

My diploma in psychology just go recognized, and I’m started to have hope. Since I was a child I always said I wanted to be a psychologist. I love helping people, talking with them. It’s who I am. Every human being wants to talk, about their pain, their suffering. And I think that listening helps a lot. But here you need 5 years of training in addition to the studies. And for that, I first need to get my French diploma.

I have a long way to go, I realize it. It’s not easy, being my age, and with all that I’ve been through. I’m a bit tired because I feel like I spent my whole life fighting. I come from a very poor background. Our parents fought hard for us. And even with the very hard life we had, we succeeded. But I chose to live here, and now I have to start over. I know I have to fight again. But this little girl I used to be, she’s proud because I’ve become a woman with more self-confidence.”

(Quai Gustave Ador | translated from French)