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.

I have been in Denmark since august 2015. Before the war I had a very good life. My husband and I had a nice house, my husband had a good job, and a car. For eight years I worked as a school teacher. We had good neighbours, a good family and were very happy. In the weekends we would take trips.
When the war started I was very afraid of what was going to happen. My husband went to work every day, and I was alone in our home. Our house was very close to a military area, so I was afraid. Every evening when I watched the news I saw how the war escalated in the suburbs surrounding Damascus, and that scared me. Members of my family fled to Turkey, so we thought we also had to flee. At first we fled to Damascus to live with my husband’s family, but it was very hard because we lived 12 people under one roof. For that reason we decided to flee to Egypt, where we worked in a shop for 12 hours a day. Still, we could not make enough money to pay the rent. I started to work as a teacher for Syrian children in Egypt, to help them with language problems and help them integrate into school.

When my husband fled to Europe I lived in Egypt with my sister. I continued my job as a teacher, but it was very hard for me to be separated from my husband for so long. Especially as I was also in a new country. I was in Egypt without my husband for a year and two months. Finally I got family reunification and flew to Denmark to my husband. I moved in with my husband in a sharing house. We were there for about three months, and then we moved to Birkerød, where we started at language school. I finished language school after a year and a half. After that I went to adult education and got my 9th grade and now I’m going for my 10th grade diploma. At the same time I work as a volunteer with Syrian children in the cultural center, and have done that for two years. I have had two internships too during that time.

I would like to tell the Danish people that all people deserve a chance. We are only here because of war in our homeland, not to receive money from the government. Some day I hope to become a Danish teacher, but we wish that the war in Syria will end so that we can return to our homeland.

I’m from north Syria, from nearby Aleppo. I used to work as an English teacher in a library, I wrote lectures. I also gave private lessons. I had a successful life before the war.
We cannot compare the life we have now. We have to start from 0. The rules, the language. It’s not an easy life. I’m learning the language but it’s difficult. I’m still learning.

In Syria I was satisfied. Here I’m not satisfied.

I was a math teachers back home in Syrian and it was good life. Everything was ok. But women’s rights were a problem. I felt I had no rights as a woman.
But then I fled to Sweden during the war. It’s a good place for children and women. I like it there.

I work as a mathematics teacher for children aged between 13 and 15. I live in a small with maybe 500 people. Everyone is nice.
I’m staying long term in Sweden. I’m not going back to Syria.