My name is Maryam Mohagheghi; I am 28 years old and born in Iran. I grew up in Afghanistan and moved to many countries, because my parents were politically active during the revolution. When I was nine I came back to Iran with my mom and stayed in Iran until I was 18, when I moved to Sweden alone. The reason was that because of my parents’ backgrounds, I could not apply to university in Iran. In Sweden I started my high school again and I now have two diplomas.

When I started at university in Malmö I joined the NGO origination like Red Cross, fem center, Iranian Swedish organization, Utrikespolitiska Föreningen (foreign-policy organization UF), Swedish Afghanistan committee, and the new start Parvaz NGO (me and some friends started this NGO), Focus Asian (peace works). I have been to India and studied there for 6 months; it was one of the best experiences I’ve had. I study international relations in Malmö and Human Rights. I am very interested to be a part of Democratic Exchange Forum. I want to use the knowledge and experience I am going to get from this forum in my work with NGOs and my future works in Afghanistan and the Middle East.