I came to Denmark on the 16th of February 2015. I used to work in IT-support in the Danish environmental protection agency in Aarhus. Before that I worked with IT development in Novicell. I stopped working there because I got accepted at the University in Aarhus, to study civil engineering, which I also studies in Damascus.
I just lived like any normal child in Syria. When I was 11 years old I had already finished all of the computing courses that were available to me in Syria. I was the youngest person to do that. The held a big party for me at the Maamoun institute in Damascus, which has now become a private university. I took many courses. I started with windows and the office programs. Then they gave me an internet course, because the internet was so new in Syria, at that time. After that I started with accounting. This was at the age of nine. Then I got a course on how to repair computers – building them regarding software and hardware. Then the accountant at my father’s clothes company got sick, so I could help my father with that job. I worked both in the company and in the warehouses. From that time I started as an accountant there.

At that time I started to get a design course at the University. There I worked with correct drawing, Photoshop and advanced Photoshop. I learned the program Dreamweaver. This was at the age of ten. Then I learned 3D max and Maya, which deals with computer animation. Then I was offered AutoCAD which is a program that works with architectural planning and civil engineering. This was the last course they could offer me. The youngest person there was 25 years old, and I was only 11 years old.  After these courses they had nothing more to offer me. Then I just started teaching myself, practicing and getting the experience myself. Just to better myself. At that time the fastest internet connection in Syria was 8 Kbit pr. Second.
I also got experience working in my fathers company. Then I started to get fashion design courses. I am not the best, but I can design dresses for girls. I got a lot of courses in English also. I could have taken more courses in Jordan, but they would not let me travel there, because I am Palestinian. So I just focused on working in my fathers company. Then I studied It-engineering, where I got an honor degree. Once I was in a competition in typing and coding, where I typed 182 letters pr. Minute in both English and Arabic. Then I was offered a job in another company, but I couldn’t go, because in Syria, when you are already in one company, you can’t just work somewhere else.  It’s like the football teams, in a way – if you for example are playing for Real Madrid, you can’t just go and play for Barcelona. That is just the system in Syria, so I just worked in my father’s company and studies at the same time.

The problem in Syria is that the information is restricted. The reason why most people have a hard time learning English or getting more information, other that what is offered in the library in Damascus, which is Assad’s library, is that the information in censored. It is retsticted. For example, a lot of books are prohibited. I don’t want to read the books they want me to read – I want to choose my own books. Fx. Google chrome is also prohibited in Syria, and so is Youtube and all of Apple’s applications. I had to use my skills in computing to break through the firewalls, so I could access the information.
The last days of my life in Syria, when I was working in my father’s company, The Free Syrian Army captures me and tried to kill me. At that time my life changed drastically. I as driving in my car, and a motorbike tried to stop me. There were two people on the motorbike. They had automatic machineguns, and waved me to the side of the street. They wanted me to stop the car and give them the keys. I realized I was in trouble, so I drove away as fast as I could. 160 mph down a very narrow street, where there was many dumpsters. I was surprised to find out that it was an organized operation to stop me. There were two 4 wheel drive cars blocking the end of the streets in both directions, and they had anti-tank rockets. They had big speakers ordering me to stop, or they would blow up my car. I had to stop! When I looked to the left, there was my fathers company. I was so nervous, that I did not recognize where I was. I ran towards the company, and normally the door was open, because there are always many goods going in and out. But that day it was closed. Something was wrong. I knew it was organized.

As I said, some days I worked there as an accountant, working with the payroll. On this particular day, when they wanted to capture me, it was payday. They wanted money. We used to deliver the money to the employees and the business men, we did business with, on Thursdays. On that day I was already nervous, because we had been getting threatening calls. I had told my father, that I did not want to deliver money that day, but my father said I had to do it. He said he would take care of me. I said ok, but I would only deliver to the employees – not the businessmen. I delivered 6500 dollars, instead of 36500, to the employees. We deal in dollars, because that monetary unit is stable. We only convert the money when we need it. I left the money in the car, ran to the factory door and rang the alarm bell. I rang it 12 times, but no one answered. So they caught me. It was 12:30 in the afternoon. It was a sunny day. It was Ramadan, so I was thirsty, hungry and tired.

They caught me, and started to hit me in a very violent way. They took me to a dried out river. There was a very bad smell and many insects, because many people had been killed there. They put me on my knees, by the river, after they had beat me. They were saying “Allahu Akbar”, and started shooting into the air. Then, suddenly, one of the men’s phone rang. It was an old Nokia, so I could hear what the person was saying. I could hear that it was one of the businessmen that worked for my father’s company, so he knew me. He told the men to leave me alone, and not to kill me. But the man wanted to make me very nervous. He said to me, while I was on my knees “I do not want to pay one dollar for a bullet to execute you. I will kill you with a blunt knife”. I said ok, because at that time I just wanted to get out of the situation. He shot into the air again, and pulled my head back, as if he was about to cut my throat. Then he stopped. He said, “How much money do you have in the car”? I said “Why are you asking, when you already know”? He dragged me back to the car, took the money, and told me to call my father, whom was at our house. At that time I thought my father did not know anything. I had forgotten that we had put cameras in the streets around the company, so he already knew. I called my father, and said “They have taken me.” My father said, he knew. He wanted to talk to them. They told my father thay wanted 40.000 dollars to let me go. They made a deal, that my father would give them 20.000 dollars including the 6500 dollars from the car. The problem was, they said they wanted the money in 10 minutes. My father said “Give me a chance to get the money, and get my son.” My father did not know where I was, only that they had taken me, so he called my uncle at the factory. He told him to go to where The Syrian Free Army was holding me, deliver the money, and take me to the hospital.
From the hospital, we all escaped from Syria to Egypt. We stayed there for one year and tried to make a new life for ourselves. Unfortunately, we found that there was no way we could start a new company there, so we went to Beirut in Lebanon. We stayed there for a year, but we spent a lot of money, because the cost of living there is very expensive. I got a job at a mobile phone company, but he would only pay me 10-15 dollars a day, and that was not even enough to pay for transport. I had to quit. It was a shame because I liked my job. I was working with what I liked, and I had something to do, instead of staying home.

We went back to Syria to our house. It was in a safe area – the same area where Assad lived. There were many checkpoints etc. Unfortunately, we started to be threatened again, so we decided to flee to Denmark. 17 members of our family fled with us, but not everyone went to Denmark. Some went to Germany and some to Sweden.
I have many ideas for projects and small businesses. I do not just want to live on student grants while I am studying. I want to work on the side. Maybe I can use one of my ideas to do that. I am glad to be in Denmark. Mostly people are very kind. On social Facebook, there are many racist groups, but that is not the reality I see. We have many Danish friends whom help us a lot.
It was not easy at all to reach Denmark. Many Danish people ask me “Are you glad, you have an apartment here in Denmark”? “Are you glad you are here in Denmark”? Of course, I am happy, but I want people to know that I had a very good life in Syria. A very luxurious life. Not like here in Denmark. I had a big house with housekeepers and big cars.  Some people in Denmark ask “Why do you not go back to Syria, then”? I want them to know, that our ONLY wish is to do that. It is not safe now, so we cannot.
When I left, I left separately. My family members followed me through Aleppo. I met up with all of my family members in Turkey. I went through Alqamishli to Turkey. I dealt with a smuggler, and paid him money. We started the journey at 3 pm. He said to me, I just had to wait for ten minutes then another car would come and get me. That was a big lie. We tried to cross the border three times, but the Turkish police caught us and sent us back.

It was not easy for me to walk in the mountains. I was so tired. The time was 7 pm. I could not continue to walk in the dangerous mountains. I went back to the smugglers and said that could not continue. They said “You have paid a lot of money to have a good trip, so stay beside the micro-bus, and I will arrange a trip just for you”. I had to believe him, because I had no other possibilities, but I was afraid because of my previous experiences. He waited until everyone had left the place, then they got their weapons out, and told me to empty my pockets. I did what they said. I do not know why they believed that I gave them everything that I had, because I had a secret pocket with another mobile phone. They tool my luggage and my water. On these types of trips, you take better care of your water than of your money, because money cannot save your life.

The smugglers gave me an offer I could not refuse. They said “Now you must go and never come back, or we will kill you”. At that point I felt like I had no choice. I wanted to get to Turkey as soon as possible. They just said to me “Do you see those four mountains”? I said “Yes”. They said “Cross them”. At that time, I just focused all of my energy on one thing: to find the other group, that I had been travelling with until that point. I ran and ran to catch up with them or just to find any sign of life. Lucky for me, the Turkish police had stopped them, so I found them. Even though I did not know those people, I felt such a relief – like I had been reunited with my family – because it gave me hope. Then we started to support eachother as we crossed the mountains. We held hands so we could catch eachother, climbing up the mountains. It is very dangerous because of the steep incline. We had to cross four mountains and three villages. At the top of the second mountain, my foot got stuck between two big rocks. Two strong men from our group tried to move one of the rocks. While they were moving the rock, to free my foot, they accidentally broke my chin. It was an open fracture. I screamed so my group left me. They ran. They were afraid to get discovered by the police. I was dizzy, and felt it was so painful. It was dark. I laid down and could not move, because my foot was still stuck. Then two animals, which looked like dogs, approached. They were not dogs, but hyenas. I saw two people coming towards me. It was two of the members from my group that had come back to help me.  They lit some sticks on fire to chase away the animals. I said thank you for chasing the dogs away. They told me that they were not dogs, but hyenas. The people who helped me lived in the mountains, so they were experienced with that. The two men from the group laid down next to me, and pushed the rock away with their feet. One of the guys from the group was medically trained. He told me to bite down on a stick, and then they put the bone back in my leg. They said I had two choices. I could either go back to the smugglers or they could try to carry me over the mountains. I am so grateful to them, because I am very heavy. It took a lot of strength for them to carry me across two mountains on such a narrow edge.

Finally, I got to Turkey, where I was reunited with my family. From there we travelled to Greece by yacht. A police boat caught us in the middle of the sea. The captain talked to them, and they let us go. Finally, we were in Greece. We were stuck there for ten months. From there we walked to Austria. We walked in 35 degrees below zero through Macedonia, Serbia, and Beograd, Hungary. From Hungary, they brought cars to go to Vienna. We had walked for long periods. I wore six jackets and four pairs of trousers. We ate just snickers and mars bars because they were very light weight and give a lot of energy. From Vienna we got a plane to Copenhagen. Finally on the 16th of February 2015 we arrived.

I’m originally from Syria, and when the revolution broke out against the tyrant Assad, I was a student in the university. I was studying my third semester and I was one of the best students in my subject. That meant that the institutions of the Syrian regime were very interesting in using me and my expertise. They wanted me to make presentations and convince others to join the war and be a part of the conflict. I refused to do so – I didn’t want to contribute to the killing of innocent people. I believe in freedom and am against corruption. But as you probably know, it can be very dangerous to say no to the regime. I was wanted by the regime.
At that time, I lived 30 km from Damascus, and on the route there were 12 checkpoints. This meant that I couldn’t leave my city, and I felt very hopeless, and that my future was ruined. I’m a person who loves to study and do scientific research, and I have a dream to become a scientist, or a professor, so it was difficult to see my dream fade away.

I started to think of ways I could leave Syria, and finally I decided that the safest way was to go to Lebanon and then to Europe. The reason that I wanted to continue to Europe was that the situation was very bad in Lebanon, especially when it comes to my possibilities to continue my education and follow my dream. To get to Europe from Lebanon I had to travel to Algeria (as Syrians at that time didn’t need a visa to travel there), then go to Tunisia, Libya, and from there take a boat to Italy. It was a dangerous route. At the border control between Tunisia and Libya, they were shooting at people, so we crossed the border at night in order not to be seen. The situation in Libya was very bad. I stayed there 10-15 days until I found a possibility to go by a boat to Europe. I paid a lot to go by this fishing boat. The trip was two days. I was actually not worried to die at the sea. I put my trust in God.
The reason why I chose to go to Denmark was that I have close relatives here. I was still young when I arrived here, and I didn’t have experience living on my own. I come from a social and conservative family, so the fact that I had close relatives in Denmark was an important reason.
I got my residence permit on the ground of political asylum, as the regime had made many threads against me. Many of the students from my faculty had actually been killed for refusing to cooperate with the regime. Some of them had also complied and are now involved in killing people.

In Syria I was always interested in learning languages, and this is still a hobby of mine. I know French, Spanish, Arabic, and now Danish (though I am still not satisfied with my level in Danish). I learned Danish at the highest level in order to get into university. I succeeded to get admission in the same field as I was studying in Syria, and I am very happy and satisfied with my studies and with the good relationships with the professors and the fellow students.

Therefore, to sum up, the reasons that I fled to Denmark were; family, safety, education-opportunity, and freedom. It was not for economic reasons, as some people might think. I don’t come from a poor family, but from the middle class.

I felt very welcomed by the Danish people. I had good social experiences with my neighbors, in the language school, and in society in general.
It can be difficult sometimes in relation to the Danish language and culture, but one needs to have patience and be open-minded. And it is also important to keep a balance between one’s own culture and the culture of the host country to create a successful social integration. I’m very interested in cultural exchange, and therefore I also established a cultural association together with my friends.

I live here in Malmö with my family. We came here to Sweden, to Malmö in 2014, but not directly from Syria. We came from United Arab Emirates. I lived there for 10 years before coming here to Sweden.This step was like a critical step in life, because we couldn’t get back to Syria, you know, because of the war, and the situation there is like… deeply bad, so the decision was to move to the best country that offers good conditions to people like us, in our condition. We thought of many countries, like Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, but at that time, Sweden was a better choice for us – a better option for the social environment that it has, and here I mean the racism, which here is, I think, the lowest in all of the European countries. That was one the one hand, and on the other hand, well the conditions of the individual, for example someone who lives in Sweden – What benefits and advantages and rights this individual has.

When we came here at first, we experiences heaps of differences between the cultures. I mean my culture or the eastern culture, and here the Western culture. We didn’t find actually that it was difficult for us to settle here and to adapt to the environment and to the culture, because we already lived in a country that included 80 different nationalities, in Dubai for example, so we are so open to different cultures.

But the ongoing problem that we are facing – and it is still on – it was finding a job. Like a proper job with the experience and the qualifications that we have, fx I have a huge experience in education, translation, and teaching. But here there are some like rutine and obsticales to find a job. For many reasons the first one is the language. The Swedish language it was like an obstacle to find a job first. And then we had to do many things in order to find a job. First of all, we had to finish the secondary level of language school, and then we had to complete our bachelor degree with subjects here in the country, which is not available in ours. And before that it was difficult, not impossible, but semi-impossible to find a job. So we are working on that. We are still studying the Swedish language, and we are in the final stage now. Afterwards we have to make this “kompletering” (in Swedish). Which means to complete our grades in our bachelor in order to be eligible to be teachers here in Sweden, and I think it is just a waste of time! Because we were here for four years, or actually more than four years now, and we could avoid wasting this much time by just one simple rule, or if they decided here to help people like us. For example, they could find us a job in the schools, and with this job we could acquire the language and we could participate in our experience, and be more useful to the society. This is actually what is in my priority and what is most important an order to be 100% settled in this country.

We are here now trying our best to finish this mission – getting the licences to be teachers here and work as teachers. Otherwise we could do new jobs, new carriers, which could be 100 % different from our education background, which is not easy for people in our age to start something new in my life. So this is my issue. Otherwise here is a very great country. I love it, and I have become Swedish citizen now, a few months ago. So yeah, this is my life now, and honestly I’m not thinking to get back to Syria, even if the war ended. Here it is much much better for the future of our children, not only for me. So I have to think ahead, not only about the current situation.

Before the war, I was in the 10th grade. Life was very beautiful, without any problems. Our life was very normal before the war. During the war, our life was very stressful. I was afraid of everything. There was no safe places. Even the short 7-minute walk to school was impossible for me to walk alone. In 2014 we decided to escape from Damascus. On the 1st of March 2015, we arrived in Denmark, at Copenhagen central station. We were moved to many different refugee camps before we were granted a residence permit. We reached Aarhus in July 2015.
In Denmark I study the Danish language, and my social worker put me in high school to learn more Danish. Unfortunately I am not very good friends with the Danish language.  After that they put me I Langkjær gymnasium to study on the English course for international students. The course takes three years, and I only have one year left, so I will be graduating next year. I have become very tired of these studies. I am looking very much forward to wear the graduation hat! When I have finished this course I will go on to study psychology and criminology.

I was studying in the 10th grade when the war broke out in Syria. My life was easy and comfortable. I had everything I wanted.

I came to Denmark in march 2015. It was difficult in the beginning, but it became easier with time.After me and my family got residence permit, we moved to Aarhus and I started to attend language school. I finished the language school after 1,5 or two years, and I started 10th grade.

I applied to study in high school, but they didn’t accept me. They said that they were worried that I could not understand the lectures as I had not been in Denmark that long and that my Danish was maybe not good enough. They then invited me to take a test to see if they could accept me.

I took the exam. We were 50 persons who took this test and only three of us passed it. I was one of them.

After some time the principal called to tell me that I did very good in the test. He said that normally he didn’t call all the people who took the tests, but he thought I should know how good I was. But still he said that the high school could not accept me as a student because they were still worried that I might not understand. It was very strange! And I felt it was unfair.
I’m a good student, and I’m sure that I could easily understand the lectures in high school. Yesterday I had an exam where I got the grade 10 (B) without even preparing so much for it. Now I am studying in the 10th grade again and at HF (Higher Preparatory Examination Programme) at the same time. I also help my father in his sweet shop in my spare time.
My teacher couldn’t understand why I came back to the 10th grade. He said, “what are you doing here?”

Before the war, I was studying and working. I was studying in high school, and working in a bar. I liked making ‘latte art’ on the cappuccinos. My life was acceptable before the war. I escaped from Syria in the beginning of the war, in 2013, because I feared for my life. I escaped to Malaysia, and lived there for 6 months. However, I could not find suitable work. From there I travelled to Algeria, where I stayed for 2 years. From Algeria, I went to Libya, where I found a smuggler. He took my brother and me to Italy on a small boat. From Italy, I went to Denmark.
When I arrived in Denmark, they sent me to a camp in Helsingør. Then we moved to another camp in Haderslev, in another part of the country. Then we went to Toftlund, and finally to the municipality of Nyborg. In Nyborg I studied in language school, and graduated after 9 months. After that, I found work in a supermarket called Netto, where I still work now. In the beginning, I had 30 km to work from where I lived. I had to wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning to be on time. I drove to work on my scooter.
One day I had three accidents because of the snow, and once because I hit an animal. After the last accident, they moved me to a Netto in Odense, which is closer to my home.
I wish to continue my studies to become an electrician.
I would like to send a message to the politicians, to give better opportunities to the refugees, and to stop generalizing.

I’m living here with my uncle. It took me one year to go from Syria to Denmark. An agent helped me escape from Syria to Turkey where I had to walk 18 hours in the mountains. After that I took a bus to Istanbul where I stayed for 6 months. I tried to cross to Greece but kept on being caught by the Greek police. After 6 months I entered Greece where I tried to take a plane but the police caught me many times. I then walked to Macedonia and afterwards on foot across Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany and then finally Denmark.

I’ve been here a year now. I’m happy living here with my uncle’s family. I would like to continue my studies here and study to become a lawyer.

I came to Denmark 2 years ago when I was 17. I am now going to start my education at UUC (professional high school).
I went to højskole ( Danish Folk High School) called Kalø last year. It was a wonderful school. I learned a lot of Danish there. It was a really good place. I also got to learn about Danish traditions and customs.
When I’m done with my professional high school, I would like to study computer engineering. Right now I a have a lovely boyfriend who is from Syria but lives in Funen in Denmark.
But, it’s still hard. My parents are both very ill. Both of them have diabetes and heart problems. The war in Syrian took its toll on them.

I left Syria on april 22nd 2014 and arrived in Denmark on may 25th. In Syria I was a journalist on Damascus radio, where I was in charge of two programs. One of the programs had a main focus on social topics and was for young adults. I have also educated young adults in journalism.
I have a .cand in Arabic literature and culture. In Denmark this education is approved as a bachelor degree. In Denmark I can not find a job as a journalist but I had to go through internships via jobcenter. One internships has been in maintaining green areas in the road and parks department of the municipality, but my fingers are not green at all, and the internship did not go well. I love to eat green, though. I would like a job where I can use my education, use my skills, and that is not a physical job, its about using my intellect. After the internship in road and parks I took a course at the integration department at Odense municipality for six months. After that I got another internship via my caseworker at a newspaper, Fyns Stiftstidende. After three months there I started working at the library at SDU (Southern Danish University).

I wanted to study masters at middleeast studies at SDU, and talked to a guide there who said I was welcome, but needed to study English at B level first. I asked my caseworker if he could help me, but he couldn’t. He thought it would take too long before I would be able to get a job. I didn’t understand his logic since this was my way out of the system to make money on my own. By taking English classes at B level, I would be able to go to SDU, and then continue my education, but he said no. Instead he wanted me to go to Esbjerg to learn how to drive a truck. It all seemed crazy to me. Why would my caseworker spend 80.000 DKK on a drivers license for me, when I am an educated journalist with a .cand in Arabic literature, with lots of experience on how to do radio and teaching? Even with a truck drivers license I wasn’t even guaranteed to get a job. I have also worked at a private school teaching Arabic.

So, I applied to enter the teachers education at VIA University College Aarhus and now I go there. And, I study English on my way to work and back home in the train from Nyborg to Aarhus. I am out of that system and can provide for myself. As soon as I finish studying there I will be able to work as a teacher. I am good at teaching young persons, as I have experienced through my work in Syria.

Finally, a comment to Inger Støjbjerg. She works against her own work. She makes a cake to celebrate its getting more difficult to be a refugee in Denmark? She is a minister of anti-immigration. Still I think of Denmark as my second country now. The future of my children is in Denmark. And, I have a goal, that Im working towards.