This is a story from a Lithuanian friend of ours, Edgaras Sviščiovas, with whom we participated in the project „Together Against Stereotypes!“, which was realized on the island of Crete, Greece by the non-governmental organization Hellenic Social Supporting Assistance – Hel.S.S.A .

One day we had an unusual experience. We met and talked with Naeim, who is a refugee in Greece.

We thank Hellenic Social Supporting Assistance – Hel.S.S.A for this emotion, thank you for this opportunity to meet Naeim.

There’s nothing more to say than Edgaras. Read this! And look at the world with even better eyes!

And we will agree with Edgaras’ conclusion: „There are many stereotypes about refugees. After hearing Naeim’s story, I thought. I just asked myself – do I really think this person can hurt anyone? Refugees are part of us, they are part of Europe, they are part of this world. There must always be a discussion in our society about the current problems that we all face. The world goes beyond our own circle and that it never ceases to change. You must remain curious. To be part of this world „.

Meet Naeim

All of us like to feel safe. Sometimes, in order to feel safe, we need to ignore some of the problems that are going on right now. The refugee crisis is one of these problems. We are used to close our eyes and to not discuss about it.

While I was on an Erasmus+ training course in Crete, I was lucky to get a chance to meet this man, called Naeim. He is one of many refugees, that have fled Syria in the recent years. To tell truth, he even was one of the first refugees as he fled his home country even before the war has started. That is why we can even call him a “Pioneer of Refugees”. I want to share his story with you. I hope that you will feel the whole journey going through your body. Try to stand in his shoes. Let’s begin.

“My name is Naeim, I am 30 years old and I am from Afrin, Syria. I am Kurdish and being Kurdish in Syria was always a problem. My nationality was the main reason, why I had to leave my country.

In year 2007 I decided that I want to have a better life. Living in Syria as a Kurdish man was too complicated. Syrian language and culture is slightly different from the Kurdish one. All my life I felt as a refugee already in the country, that I was born in. At that time, when I decided to leave Syria for Greece, I was 18 years old.

The decision itself was not hard, but the biggest challenge was to reach Greece. When I left my home, Syria was not in a war condition yet, so I got in to Turkey without any problems. Getting through Turkey was safe & sound. I met many people, who were friendly to me and helped me during my journey. Only later I realised that this is only the beginning.

I faced my next challenge, when I had to cross the Aegean sea, in order to reach the shores of Greece. During that time I was not alone, seventeen other refugees were together with me. During winter we were living in a forest next to Izmir. We were starving, freezing and we did not know, when are we going to leave. One thing that we knew for sure it that we could not stay here any longer. We found men, who promised to take us to Greece without any documents. It was an illegal action, but under the given circumstances, it looked like the only right action. When you are in this situation, it is impossible to refuse such an offer, even though it costs you more than 2 500 €. We decided to move on and never look back again.

Our first goal was to reach the island of Lesvos. At first, it looked like going on a holiday to catch some fish with your friends, but the reality was absolutely different. Taking a rubber boat in the sea at night – it is one of the worst things you can do. Thousands of people have died because of doing it. We spent more than four hours and after it we had to swim to reach the shore of Lesvos. People, who promised to support our journey, did not care about us anymore. Anyway, who cared about us at that time?

When we reached the island, we started moving deeper in to it. After 6 hours of hiking we were too tired to continue our journey. Then we heard a hunter with dogs and tried to reach him, but at this point he was even more afraid than we were. We could not find a common language, but even without it he took care of us by giving some water and directions to the closest village. After a few more hours of walking in the forest, we decided to stop. We made a campfire for the firefighters to see us and it worked out well, because they came. Sadly, they could not collect us, but they finally led us out of the forest, so that we could find a village. When we reached the village, we have decided to reach out the locals. First, there was a women, who provided us some food. We asked her to call the police, but she was shocked, because of our begging. Still, she helped us. We were on our way to meet the other refugees in this island, but at first, we went to the hospital to have some specific tests.

Later, we were sent to a refugee camp. Even though Lesvos is very close to Turkey, this island belongs to Greece. It meant, that we were already in Greece, but we still had to cover a long way to reach Athens. We stood in the camp for a few days and later we took a ferry to Athens.

When I came to Athens, I instantly went to the refugee office and asked for asylum. This would have given me the status of a refugee and I could get help to start my new life. Situation changed, when I realized that I can not do that, because there is no war in Syria at this point. I started looking around and searching for other Syrians and I was lucky to find them. They told me that they faced the same problem, so they applied as Palestinians or Iraqi people. This is how you trick the rules.

Anyway, I did not put my hands down and kept on telling my truth. For the next two months I had to go to the refuge office about 2 times per week. I explained them that I am from a small town in Syria, where Kurdish and Arab people have a story between each other. They checked on my information, found out about my hometown on the internet and agreed that the situation there is different than I rest of Syria. They accepted to proceed with my application for asylum, but after some time I got cancelled and I was shocked by these news.

At that point I did not know the Greek language. I did not even know any people, who could help me to find a job. Back then, there were no refugee assistance institutions. There were hard times when I slept in parks and have been starving for days, but some of other refugees were living in even worse conditions. I was lucky to have my parents, who could support me by sending at least a little bit of money. Luckily, I remembered, that when I was a little child, my uncle worked as a tailor and I also learnt how to do this job. Once in Athens I was crossing a tailor shop and I have decided to enter it and ask, if I could work there. I was lucky. Because there was another Syrian man working there, who made a translation and helped me to integrate. These were my first steps towards a stable life. After such a long time, I finally felt like living again.

I worked there for almost a year. Later, time to move on came. There was a lack of work at the Tailor’s place, so I found a new job in the constructions. For the next few months, I was moving metal constructions from Athens to Heraklion. When I first visited Heraklion, I instantly fell in love with this city. I have decided to move grounds and start a new life here.

When I just moved, I found a job of drilling the ground, to collect the mineral water out of it. I worked there for a half year, but once again, I decided to quit my job. Then, I got lucky, as I found a job in an amusement park. I loved my new job, it was probably the best job I ever had. Everyday I saw happy people coming and spending time together with their children. I worked there for nine years and during this time I met a lot of good people and acquired a stable life.

I did not have any problems with my life, because it was finally quiet and peaceful, but I was angry, because I could not meet my parents. I was missing my family. My sister, three brothers, and my parents. It was about time to meet them.

After the war in Afrin was over, my family started their own journey to Germany. At first, they settled up in Istanbul, they found jobs there and I wanted them to stay there, but my mother did not agree with me. They moved to the island of Leros and told me that they are coming to Athens. I instantly went to Athens and waited near the port for many hours.

When the ferry arrived, there was port police around it, which wanted to make a security check. Then I saw a women, jumping from the ship and swimming. No one could stop her from seeing her son after these long 10 years. We have been together for about six days and after it my family continued their way to Germany. It was a real struggle to reach Germany for them. I asked them to call me as soon, as they will get there. After two weeks my mother called me and told me that she did it and I instantly booked plane tickets and went there. It took me only three hours to get there, while it took two weeks for them!

Last time I saw them, I was 18… and now I am 28. My sister was a child when I left her. I remember how I gave her five pounds and left my home. After that my parents told her, that she will not be able to see me for a long time. After ten years she still had those five pounds that I gave her. I could not believe it. All the time, these five pounds reminded her of me. Five pounds became one of the most important symbols in her life.

Now I still live in Heraklion, Crete. I have a house and a job that I really like. I help other refugees to start their new lives. I love the people, who are around me. I love what I am doing and I love my colleagues. I have a girlfriend for three years already. This is my life today. Twelve years after I left Syria.”