A very happy holiday season, and Happy New Year from everyone at MIRA — and especially from Oudai, who is excited that his beloved family will be joining him soon.
THE MIRA TEAM WISHES YOU A JOYOUS AND PEACEFUL 2019!!!
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)
My self-confidence is deteriorating every day in front of the Parliament dome. My predictions never failed me. At last, the parliament voted to bring in 1,000 persons from Syria’s neighboring countries. The total number of protected persons in Germany is 65,000 persons and they are all waiting for family unification and I am one of them. This means that I must wait for a year, two or even five years to be reunited with my family. This is how long it will take to process all applications.
I clueless am to when my turn will be to live under one roof with my family in one country. This is my dream and the dream of my wife and now that my children started understanding life, this also became their dream. It is the dream of my wife to move from the virtual house that we live in right now through social networks to a real house of four walls and a ceiling on this earth.
My life will be threatened if I go back to Syria and I am forbidden from going back to Jordan. It is like I swallowed a double edge sword. If I continue swallowing it, it will kill me and if try to take it out it will kill me as well. I have done all in my capacity in Germany. I have complied with all laws even before they started enforcing them, however it is hard to catch up with the new regulations. I am wondering of these are laws or hurdles. I prefer to call them hurdles, because conditions can be met, but hurdles need to be removed.
Lately, I signed a contract with Berlin Transportation Company (Bracticom) to start the preparations for the vocational training. This was a step in the right direction. I feel happy as I get to know new people and my time if filled with work and duties. However, when I come home in the evening and open the door and start looking at the pictures of my family on the walls and picturing them how excited they will get when they see me coming home and the way how they will race to the door to greet me, my feelings flare up and I start talking to the pictures.
I keep saying, when will that moment be a reality and not a dream? I keep the dream to wake up one morning to check the calendar and find that it is the date for to go to the airport to receive my family. Is this a dream or did they cancel the flight route between Jordan and Germany and all flights were cancelled?
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)
The election bell can be heard and with it the sound of our heart beats. Immigrants are asking themselves whether the winners will be opposed to us or not. At the end of the day, the elections closing bells were heard, waiting to hear the winner.
To our surprise, the winning parties went into a political process to form a government and the main theme was immigration. Some of them like refugees to be fried, other grilled, others boiled, etc. They changed the laws and manipulated the feelings of separated families spread across the continents. Nowadays, they are asking for a freeze on family reunifications and some parties are imposing impossible conditions for reunification.
German political parties have no feelings and seem inhuman. They manipulate the feelings of refugees without any recognition for their achievements that took place within a short period of time. These should be respected and appreciated. As of today, I have completed two years and two months in Germany. I landed here without any knowledge of German and today I have an advanced degree in German in addition to a course in political science and the history of Germany. I passed these courses with high marks.
Within two days, I will sign a contract for training at a German company and after that, I will not get any government support. All of this was not respected by the German political parties; they lie and deceive people. They hand down decisions about people’s refugee status, and when the time comes, they change the law.
In my country, Syria, the war consists of tanks and fighter jets and you can see blood. In Germany, the war is among political parties and refugees die their feelings being manipulated. The wars in Syria and Germany are the same, but the torture techniques are different. Almost two years and a half on, and I am still waiting for my family and kids to join me. Meanwhile, the political parties’ war is still going on.
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)
I arrived at Severin at night, but to my bad luck they have taken enough refuges and thus gave me papers to go Berlin. I heard all along about their slow immigration process, but I had no choice. I arrived the next day at night in Berlin train station with the address they gave in Severin for an immigration-processing camp. After asking for directions from people on the streets, one of them took me to the camp, where I was received. In the morning, they moved us to a covered basketball court and immediately got busy with another immigrant assembling our wooden bunk bed.
Two weeks later, I started the immigration process at the federal immigration department. I completed the first interview and they gave me only a three-month residency. It is well known that during these three months, a Syrian refugee can get a humanitarian asylum and can start the family reunification process for his wife and children only.
At this stage, I was charged with emotions being away from my wife and children. I kept calling my family through social network apps with the hope of reuniting with them within 8 months, however I was not sure what the future would bring me. At the start of 2016, the German Government issued a decree to protect Syrian refugees and to postpone family reunification until 2018. Previously only a few managed to get this protection and now the majority can get it.
I was hopeful to get the humanitarian asylum that would allow me to bring my family and get permanent residency. In order to do that, you have to go through a second interview, which the Federal Government sets for you within three months. In June 2016, after residing for 7 months, I received a notification from the Federal Government. I went for the interview and then kept waiting for the residency decision. I was optimistic, but after a month this optimism started to fade away. My friends got their residencies despite the fact that I had my interview before them. I did not know that the immigration department was picking cases randomly and not based on their date.
Five months after the interview, my morale got so low that I started losing hope of reuniting with my wife and kids [since I was not allowed to return to Jordan]. My little girl does not know about my existence, except through the phone as she was a toddler when I immigrated. In November 2016, and after a long wait, I finally received a humanitarian protection order, but the family reunification was postponed until March 16, 2018. Only after that date, I can start the reunification process.
This news devastated us and my family was in tears when they heard it. My wife started cursing when she heard this news and then fainted. My biggest anger was the duration that I had to spend to get my residency without being able even to go back and see my family in Jordan. After I got the residency, I appointed an immigration lawyer to submit an appeal to the Federal Immigration Court. Now we are in May 2017 and I am still waiting.
I am Oudai El Houmsi, a Syrian refugee living in Germany. I now speak German after studying the language [and receiving a certificate in German proficiency] at a school here. I do not have any ID or a German passport; I cannot leave Germany or even Berlin. I miss my family tremendously and do not have full confidence that the Germany Government will fulfill its promise for a family reunification in 2018. Nonetheless, I thank the German Government for all they have provided us; however forbidding you from seeing your family is indescribable. I wish to live with my family under one roof even if it is a tent.I thank everybody who supported me and my family.
I thank everyone who is reading this story, which is happening for a whole nation that was forced to leave its home land. Wishing to reunite.
End!
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)
We took a break for one full hour, and at that point you could see light on the horizon — morning had come. A car came by and we stopped it. The man inside said we were far from the city and where the refugees were staying. But he was heading back there and would inform a taxi driver that we needed a ride. Indeed, after around 30 minutes, taxis came and transported us to a port on the island of Samos. There were more refugees who were applying for an exit application to a nearby country. After two days on the island, I was allowed to leave. I booked a seat on a boat scheduled to take us to the city of Kafala, close to the Macedonian border.
Indeed at 6:00 that morning, we boarded the boat and departed towards that city. The journey took 14 hours until we reached Kafala and were then transported to the Macedonian border. The process took a whole night, but the next morning I was able to receive my exit papers for Macedonia and booked a train ticket to Serbia. The number of people was huge and the train would not fit everyone so we had to sit on the floor. The children were almost suffocating from the amount of pressure inside the train compartment.
The train left for Serbia at around 2:00 in the afternoon and the journey was five hours. In the evening, we reached the border between Macedonia and Serbia. We entered Serbia by foot, around 3 kilometers. We then encountered a group of taxis that drove us to the refugee reception centre for registration. We got our exit papers at 1:30 am and I was then able to continue my journey. I got into a truck by the reception centre. At 2:00 am we left from southern Serbia through the capital Belgrade to northern Serbia and the Serbian-Croatian border. That was the last time I would have Internet. I did not realize that the rest of the journey was going to take place without any form of communication to let my family know that I was alive and still moving forward. The road we was almost a no-man’s-land — there was not even a store to buy a SIM card.
On the Croatian border, the Red Cross and other aid agencies welcomed us and told us that the borders ahead of us were still open so we wouldn’t be stopped. We did the usual, going to the refugee centre and getting some food and a medical check for those with health issues. Finally we received exit papers allowing us to head to Slovenia. This was a country whose name made me tremble as I wrote it — not out of fear, but out of the bitterness of what we have experienced on this piece of land.
We got to the Slovenian border at 4:00 am and it was still dark. At the crossing, we sat in a very big square on the edge of a valley cut in half by a river. We waited for the Slovenian border to open and it was very cold with a few drops of rain. Light from beyond the border was very bright.
You could hear the sound of babies crying and fighting with the Slovenian border control, and could see the smoke of fire lit by people trying to get some warmth. Two hours of waiting and then we heard an announcement: the borders were open. I rushed to cross and one of the guards walked us to the reception centre 30 minutes away on foot. We got to an open space surrounded by barbed wire, this is simply the only way I can describe it. We were offered food and water, but weren’t allowed to leave and were asked to wait.
We stayed there for three days, sleeping on the floor without permission to speak. We were treated like a dictator would treat his people. Three days later, at 4 in the afternoon, we were transported to the Slovenian-Austrian border, to yet another reception centre, this time however with no exit papers. We were then taken to another shelter in the city of Graz in Austria, but this one was very clean and warm, and had signs of life.
The authorities there told us that whoever wanted to apply for asylum in Austria had to head to their offices and submit an application. Some people wanted to and others like me wanted to continue onto Germany. The next day, we were taken to the train station and got on a train headed to Germany. We go to the German border at 9 in the morning.
To be continued..…in the final episode.
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)
We decided to move slower until the waves became less aggressive and we kept moving for 6 hours. We had enough fuel and the engine was functioning properly, so there was no need for panic. Was it going to take a long time? We just wanted to see something that resembled an island and the sun had still some time before it came up.
In the front of the boat, a young man stood up and said that he could see flickering lights in the distance. He thinks it’s the island, which reminded me of a children’s cartoon I had seen. Anyway, it was land — we had found land and everyone was now happy. Was that a Greek island or had we made a turn and returned to Turkey? This was one of the jokes we were throwing out while laughing.
Indeed, after half an hour we reached shore and started looking for a place to stop the boat and let everyone out. We found a place that was a bit narrow, but it was fine.
We got off the boat and there were stairs that led to the island. Samos island was a mountainous island. We climbed the stairs until we reached the street, and on it was a Greek flag. The Turkish phone connection reached this island, so I immediately wrote to my wife and my brother on Whatsapp and sent them some photos to prove we’d made it. I have arrived to the island, safe.
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)
It was now 11 pm, the air was cold and the sea relatively calm with light waves. Lights shimmered on the surface of the water. We hid in between the bushes on the beach while the rubber boat was prepared. This was the second attempt and it had to succeed. A Coast Guard patrol passed by. We were watching them but they could not see us. My heartbeat increased bit by bit. ‘Calm down heart, we will cross safely, calm down.’
When the patrol moved further away, a feeling of relief came over me and we began putting on life jackets while the rubber boat was put into the water. The trip organizer gave the signal and began loading us onto the boat. One of the translators with the organizer explained that we had to handle the boat ourselves and that we had to reach a light in the distance he was pointing at. He said there was a sign in the middle of the sea which means we means we have reached the end of the regional Turkish waters and we are then in Greek waters. “Keep going until you reach the island of Samos.”
None of the people migrating knew how to navigate the boat, but we were forced to. One of the men took over the rudder and we began moving towards Greece. None of my family members knew what time my trip was, except my little brother, who I had asked not to tell anyone until I reached safety, in fear of their emotions.
I was at the back of the boat, close to the engine. There were three of us driving, but boat was difficult to handle and keep on course. It was filled with over 50 people, young and old, small children and women. After 1 kilometer, the water became shaky and the waves reached 40 cm – the boat started going off track. We felt the boat almost ripping to pieces. Fear and hysteria overcame the women and children. Rain started falling from the sky and the children and women started crying. It was completely dark and vision was impossible in the middle of the sea. We were surrounded by water and we could not see anything else.
…To be continued.
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)
Outside my friend waits for me. I get into his car and we depart towards the airport in Amman, almost an hour away from my home. After exiting the urban areas, the roads become empty and surrounded by plains. The memories of my first entry to Jordan come back to me — when my wife and me had to cross border wires on a plain like this.
I reach the airport and go through the common check-in procedure from screening to the weighing of the bags, and finally the exit stamp on my passport and signing a paper granting me with exit with no return because I am Syrian and had been in Za’atari refugee camp. After stamping my passport, the airport officer invited me to cross and wait at the departure gate.
I passed the officer while looking back and I could see my body walking and moving towards the gate, but my soul standing on the other side saying goodbye. I felt like it was at waving me with its hands. The soul refused to travel with me and instead stay in Jordan with my family. Time flies quickly and the airport speakers were calling on passengers to board the plane. This was the first time I saw a plane up close and it was going to be the first time I would travel on one.
Moments later, I was on the plane, taking photographs and listening to the instructions of the flight crew. Once in the air, I watched Jordan from above and inside me, my heart finger pointed to where my family was. I found out later that at the time of takeoff, my wife and kids were pointing at one of the planes in the sky and my wife was telling them, “Look, that is Baba in the sky. Pray that he reaches safety.”
I spent two hours on that plane, taking images of the sky and listening to music for memories. Heart beats fast and in another instant, calm and feelings of relief and comfort. Nothing at this point was clear: I was on my way towards the unknown.
After the two hours, I arrived to Turkey and my passport was stamped. I was now on Turkish soil, in Istanbul. I bought a bus ticket to Izmir in the south – a coastal city on the Aegean Sea, and through it the crossing to Greece. The journey on the bus took 12 hours and when I got to Izmir at 8:00 am, one of my friends took me to his house to stay until I prepared myself for riding the sea and traveling to Greece.
That same evening, I was ready to make the move, but the trip was cancelled on the beach, as the rubber boat I was to take was not functional due to a leak. Water was coming in and the engine had been damaged. There were 35 other people with me on that journey.
We had to wait on the beach while the person in charge left to get a new boat and a new engine. He was a liar and once he left, he never returned. We slept on the beach and in the morning, the coast guard found out about us and took us to the nearest police station where they photographed and fingerprinted us. They asked us who the organizer was and we said we didn’t know — we truly didn’t — because we had only met him at a market. In the evening, they dropped us at the Izmir city center oand I returned to my friend’s house to rest. Two days later I made another attempt to cross the sea to one of the Greek islands.
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)
At that point, my family started crying hysterically and I kissed my mother’s head and asked her for forgiveness and her kindness. I wanted to say goodbye to my wife, but she could hold herself together. The look in her eyes was pulling me back from traveling, but it was too late. I hugged my kids as if I would not see them again. I asked my self: will I see them again? will I survive the anger of the sea? will I be able to secure their future? All these thoughts came to me at once.
I could not help it but to cry when my son told me not to be late tonight and to bring him juice and biscuits. Yes, it is the purity of children. Now it is time for me to leave the house with my backpack stuffed with what I need for an immigration journey. My last words to them were goodbye and please forgive me!
Age: 26
Country of Origin: Syria
Host Country: Germany
Civil Status: Married to Alaa, with two children (wife and children in Jordan)