Baha Alayoubi (58) man from Palestine, Syria
I have big factory where we make uniforms and dresses outside Damascus. I was the owner of this factory for 30 years. My life was as a rich businessman, I have two luxury cars, a big house, and other houses in Harresta. The same place as my factory. The houses were for my children. I was invited to many exhibitions etc because I was seen as an important businessman, also outside Syria, in Italy for instance. I made good products, and exported of models for Europe, Asia, Africa and other arab countries. During the war I lost the factory and my life changed, the free army took my son, kidnapped him, and I had to give them money to get him back. We paid 1 mio Syrian pounds to get him back, when we accepted, they said they wanted 2 mio instead. My son escaped from them and came back to us and we ended up giving them 1 mio pounds.
In summer we prepared goods for selling in the winter, and the other way around. My wife helped me much. We couldn’t sell the goods because of the war, and the free army took everything. There were many explosions in Harresta, and we fled. I came back to see about the factory but now everything is empty, and some things are burnt too. I lost 2 mio USD during the war in Syria.
I still have my health, my kids are here, nobody is hurt, and my children has a new life here. I have to take some pills because my health isn’t so good, but get a good treatment here, and I am happy. My situation was really bad when my wife wasn’t granted family reunification at first. I didn’t see my daughter for 3 years. Its very difficult to get integrated because I don’t speak Danish or English, and my health isn’t good. Before I visited many European countries, but now Im happy to live in Denmark because Im with my family, and that’s the best that’s happened to us all ever.
Dublin Core: Language: en Subject: refugee, damascus, syria, denmark, a million stories, family reunification,