Ahmed is 25 years old and from Damascus, Syria.
I came to Denmark in 2015. In Syria I had a good life. I studied and worked in my own restaurant with my cousin. We made salad and juices. I was studying at an engineering institute.
When the war started I left straight away because I was afraid to get caught up with the military. My cousin took over our restaurant.
My plan was to go to Bulgaria where I had a friend. I wanted to go through Turkey to Bulgaria, but the police kept catching me at the border. So I had to stay in Turkey. I stayed in Turkey for 4 years. I opened a new restaurant in Istanbul. In 2013my whole family came and joined me in Turkey. I got engaged to a girl in Sweden and that is why I left to go to Europe.
From Turkey I sailed in an inflatable boat made for 10 people, but we were 50 people there. I attempted to make the trip 4 times before I had success. The police caught us on the water. The last attempt I made was going to be my last. Fortunately I was successful.
I was afraid because there were a lot of children in the boat. I was afraid that if the boat capsized a lot of people would lose their lives. But when we reached the shore of Greece I was very happy. We arrived in Kos. In Greece we stayed for 3 days. It was a very disgusting place, dirty. From Greece I went to Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Slovenia, Austria, Germany and Denmark, where I was caught by the Danish police. I wanted to go to Sweden to be with my fiancé.
I travelled there to meet her, but there were a lot of problems and the engagement was cancelled. So I went back to Denmark to start my new life.
I started from zero. I just started to promote myself, sharing my food and juices to different restaurants. I started to make friends, but did not get a job. At last I found a job with Bring who is a transport company, transporting furniture from Ikea to customers. It was a lot of hard work. I worked there for a year.
After that I worked in an internship and jobs with wage subsidies. After that I got sick and god depressed for about 3 month. Later I found a friend who knew about my restaurant in Damascus, who employed me to make my special products.
We promoted it and people came from a lot of places to try my food. I started making courses to teach people to make this kind of food and juices.
My dream for the future is to have my own café again. I still want to teach people also. This year I plan to reach my goal.
My opinion about Denmark is that I like the people and the food, and sometimes even the summer.
I would like to say something about the integration law. Refugees need to feel safe and secure. I didn’t feel settled. That I can relax. I am afraid they will change the law and suddenly send back to Syria. After I have reached my dream and worked hard, and that I risk losing that. It is not motivation for me. But I will still work towards my goal.
Dublin Core: Language: en Subject: a million stories, denmark, syria, damascus, refugee, food, cafe