My name is Rouba, I am half Palestinian and half Syrian and I’m 21 years old. I was actually studying law in Syria but because of the war I couldn’t continue, I was in my first year at the University… I wanted to come to Germany because the German government cares about the freedom and there are very good, well-known universities…
When I was a little kid my mother came to visit Germany and she told me how charming it was! My father is a doctor and he had a scholarship to study medicine in Germany because he was one of the best students in Tishreen University of Lattakia but he could not make it…
How did you come to Germany?
We came to Germany from Libya. It was a very dangerous journey but we wanted to escape the war and my parents wanted us to be safe and to live as normal young girls (I mean me and my sister). It took 8 days to arrive here.
What are the difficulties you are facing now?
First of all, it was very hard to apply for a visa simply because we are half Palestinians and half Syrians so actually we are stateless because our mom could not give us the Syrian nationality for political reasons…
The most difficult thing right now is that I’m here since 10 month and I still have not got a decision on my Asylum case ;-( I still cannot study German. In November 2015 the German government decided that all refugees who are from Syria, Iraq and another two countries can start learning German in any school… but we could not start studying because we are stateless even though we are from Syria and we possess Syrian passports and all our papers are from the Syrian government.
And yet another difficult thing is that we were transferred to a small village where there are no people of our age, no buses after 17 p.m., there’s absolutely nothing to do. The transportation is very expensive and we can’t do anything about it! We felt so alone and we are terrible missing our parents ;-(
We are often depressed that we are in a safe place and our parents are not and that we can’t live together…The idea that something happens to them is killing us inside ;-(
Is there anything you like in Germany so far?
I really enjoy the peace and beautiful nature!
What are your hopes for the future?
My hopes are to be with my parents again very soon. Such a simple thing turned into my dream! I also would like to get a very good education and be a successful person!
And of course I hope the war will be stopped…
One day you live a happy normal life, the next day it’s all gone. It could happen to anyone, only when you are in “exile”, you find out that the life you have is not to be taken for granted! At the end I would like to thank all of you who try to turn this exile into home and help us to start a new life here.
English