This month marks the 8th anniversary of the popular demonstrations in Syria that ultimately led to the war. Assil Alnaser's story takes us from the early days of those protests to her harrowing experiences as a prisoner, and then her escape and her struggles to find a home and a future in Jordan and Turkey, and later in the US, where she was subjected to the "Muslim Ban" twice after winning a scholarship. Assil's story provides a needed reminder of how the conflict in Syria started, it forces us to confront the double-victimization that many women face from their own communities after suffering sexual violence, and puts a human face on the ordeals faced by many Syrian refugees right up to the present.

A handful of countries and three continents later, she now finally has a new home in Canada.