I come from Iran, the political situation there is very difficult. I worked for 10 years as a nurse in a hospital and handed out the Bible in the hospital to give people hope. I wanted to help the people, that caused me big problems in Iran. Hospital staff watched me during distribution, they wanted to arrest me.
I fled from Isfahan to Tehran, where I stayed for two weeks. From Turkey I came to Greece with a smuggler. I lost all my stuff at sea, in an inflatable boat to Greece. I was naked, had nothing, everything was gone. The police arrested us in Greece. We came to an accommodation, were registered and we were told we had to buy a ticket to Athens. I didn’t have 50 Euro to buy the ticket. My fellow countrymen paid for my ticket. In Athens we took a taxi to the Macedonian border.
We were two days behind the border, they wouldn’t let us through because we were Iranians. Only refugees from Afghanistan were allowed to cross the border. We had to wait. Afghans and Iranians helped me to get a document saying that I am an Afghan, otherwise I would not have made it through. I waited in line for a long time. I was let through.
We went to Serbia, from there to Croatia, then to Slovenia, to Austria. From Austria I took the bus to Düsseldorf. After two days I came to Cologne. There they registered us in an immigration office. For one year I did an internship in the hospital in Cologne. I had my internship in the morning and German lessons in the afternoon. It was a heavy burden, I was always tired, I stopped the German course.
I had the interview in 2016, it lasted six hours. My application was denied. I filed a suit, started a German course and I am still waiting for the result of my interview. I’ve been waiting for an answer for 16 months. I’m starting a new internship in July, I would like to learn the same here as in my home country.
I never wanted to leave my homeland, but I had to flee. I had just gotten married in Iran, my wife left me six months after my flight because she did not want to come to Germany. I’d like to live a normal life here, get married, work. But unfortunately, my hands are still tied at the moment. I don’t wish what happened to me to anyone, I wish to no one that they have to flee for reasons of religion.
Storyteller’s name: Dehai Lalekganidazaki
Interviewer’s name: Sarah El Desoke
Country of origin: Iran
Sex: m
Age: 39