Friendship at 4,000 metres The refugees finding peace in Swiss Alps

The refugees finding peace in Swiss Alps

- Stefanie Glinski

At 4,000 metres, the air is thin. Movement takes effort, and the ice and snow demand proper gear: warm layers, crampons, an ice axe, ropes for crossing glaciers. Yet a group of refugees in Switzerland - from Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine and elsewhere - say this is where they have found freedom, calm and even respite from the trauma of war, political persecution and imprisonment.

"Reaching the summit brings an incredible sense of relief. And it's proof that you can overcome your physical and emotional challenges, even after extreme hardship," says Soroush Esfandiary, 27, adding that the Alps remind him of growing up near Iran's Zagros mountains, but also of his escape from home.

Esfandiary arrived in Switzerland four years ago, initially crossing the mountains into Turkey on foot. "I had a high fever and was coughing up blood, but I kept moving. I was so afraid," he says.

After joining the mass protests in Iran in 2019, Esfandiary was jailed and put in solitary confinement in Isfahan intelligence prison. When he was released to await his trial, he knew he had to leave.