Refugee Stories Project - Asia

Maria

editor — Fri, 25 May 2007 07:45:39 +0000

Summary

Maria has been a refugee in Greece ever since she fled Iran under the rule of Khomeini, when a colleague of her husband was imprisoned and killed for his political beliefs. Now, after twenty years in the country, Maria still has to renew her refugee status annually and struggles to belong in Greece.

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Maria says that her story as a refugee is full of too much fear and insecurity. She has been living in Greece since fleeing political persecution from Iran more than twenty years ago, but she still has no permanent status of any kind. The difficulties of her life as a refugee have taken their toll: the mental anguish of not knowing what the future holds and the memories of bringing up her children with almost no money to buy adequate food and clothes are hard to live with. Sometimes she feels like giving up but finds strength and companionship in an intercultural theatre group.

“Greece is a country that makes you feel insecure. If it weren’t for the theatrical group, it would have been awful. When our work was mentioned in the newspapers, I thought to myself ‘My land is the stage.”

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Reception and Integration

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ECRE

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Majidi

editor — Fri, 25 May 2007 07:42:49 +0000

Summary

Majidi is a refugee in Hungary, originally from Afghanistan. He fled war in his native country, poverty in Pakistan, and intimidation by soldiers in Turkey. He speaks eight languages, including Hungarian, and now feels settled in Hungary.

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Majidi is from Afghanistan, and has been living as a refugee in Hungary since 2004. His family fled the fighting in their home country, and tried to find a future in Pakistan. Poverty and lack of opportunity then drove Majidi to make his way to Europe.

When he arrived in Hungary, he did not intend to stay there, thinking that there would be more opportunities in Western Europe. But he now sees his future in Hungary, where through the kindness of friends and using his linguistic skills he has a job that he enjoys.

“I like reading, and going to the cinema or dancing. It depends on the company, I don’t want to offend anyone, I can fit in.”

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Border Controls

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ECRE

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Hedja

editor — Fri, 25 May 2007 07:24:29 +0000

Summary

At 19, Hedja was the oldest of three children accompanying their father to visit relatives in Germany. While abroad the situation in Iran prevented their father’s return and the family were obliged to seek politcal asylum in Spain – the first EU country they had entered. Five years on, Hedja's father and youngest brother have been granted refugee status, but she and another brother have not.

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Against all the odds, 24 year old Hedja is managing to complete her studies in dentistry at university in Spain. When she first arrived from Iran with 2 brothers and an ailing father seeking political asylum, she didn't know any Spanish and didn't have any qualifications recognised in Spain. The family waited five years for their asylum application to be processed. Even though Hedja doesn't know whether her temporary leave to stay in Spain will be renewed, she says it's preferable to the insecurity and anxiety of waiting for a decision from one day to the next.

“I live with my family, I am studying. We are less stressed now, after all the bad things that happened to us. They replied to us whether for good or bad, at least they replied.”

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Reception and Integration

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ECRE

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Habib

editor — Fri, 25 May 2007 07:14:25 +0000

Summary

Habib left his home in Afghanistan at 16, when Taliban activists punished his village by closing down the only school and carrying out routine attacks on the inhabitants. Habib fled after being badly injured in one of the attacks and is now living in Greece.

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Habib always intended to make something of his life but the Taliban deprived him of a future in his own country. Ill health, resulting from Taliban beatings, forced Habib to leave Afghanistan in search of medical treatment and better prospects. After living in Iran and Turkey for some 4 years with no prospect of earning enough money to pay for hospital care, he tried to reach Europe. He got across the waters in a makeshift boat that took him as far as Greece, where he has found treatment for his injuries, but not the future he had hoped for.

“My mind is confused. After 7 years away from my country, I called one day to talk to my mother and they told me she had died. There was a war going on where we were living, and there was nothing they could have done, they did not have medicine, they could not go to the hospital, so she died.”

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Reception and Integration

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ECRE

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Alice

editor — Thu, 24 May 2007 12:05:04 +0000

Summary

Alice is a musician from Kyrgystan, who was arrested and tortured for her political beliefs. Since arriving in the UK to claim asylum in 2003, she has struggled to rebuild her life and regain her health. She has spent time living on the streets, has given up her profession, and is still trying to find work.

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Alice left Kyrgystan in 2003. She worked there as a professional musician, until one day she was arrested for playing at opposition rallies, tortured, and forbidden from playing in her orchestra. She was forced to flee, and came to the United Kingdom.

Since then she has been struggling to reassemble her life and to regain her health. She was made homeless during her asylum procedure, and after she obtained refugee status moved from hostel to hostel before finding permanent accommodation. She has found it impossible to continue her music, and difficult to get a job.

“Being an asylum seeker effects your whole life, your routine, it effects everything…because sometimes you want to do nothing, drop out of everything, you want to leave your courses or English courses or whatever, you want to go away, but to where?”