Who would have thought that I would ever live in Berlin.
#Basra
Since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in Basra, life seemed to die out – and my own life was meaningless anyway. One year long it was forbidden to leave your house and meet up with friends. I did well at school, but my marks weren’t good enough to study engineering. I didn’t want to study abroad or at a private university because that would have been too much of a financial burden for my parents. The situation in Iraq was becoming increasingly difficult and the future for people like me had become rather bleak. That’s when I had the idea of leaving the country and going to Europe. Firstly, it would be forced to fend for myself in every regard. Secondly, a place with more opportunities would increase my chances of success. The thought started to become an obsession until the moment arrived when I was able to realise it.
#Bagdad
It was 4 August 2021, after a very short farewell to my mother and my relatives, my brother, my cousin and I left Basra for Baghdad. There we took a plane to Minsk. I spent about three hours looking out of the window and watching the sky. In all, the flight took four and a half hours. We landed in Minsk, but we had to wait for over eight hours at the airport there. Finally, our passports were stamped and we were allowed to leave. My first impression was that Minsk is a beautiful city. The weather was mild, I was in a good mood and had the feeling that good things were heading our way.
#Minsk
Outside the airport there was a man waiting for us to drive us all to the hotel. We only allowed ourselves one day to recover. Then we decided to try to get to Lithuania, because from what we had heard, the borders to Lithuania were open and easy to cross. Belarus was a transit point for us. Our destination was the EU. We were a group of 40 Iraqis who set off towards the border in several cars. When we arrived, it was very dark and we could hardly see anything. We went into the forest and walked for about three and a half hours until we reached the border. Once we were there, we ran together as a group to get into the Lithuanian part of the forest. But not before long the armed Lithuanian border patrol turned up, cut us off and forced us to turn around. It was cold and raining heavily.
#Borders
We spent more than five hours trying to persuade the Lithuanian border guards to allow us to cross the border. But to no avail. Following those five hours, the Belarusian border guards came and took us to another part of the forest by bus. We weren’t allowed to move for a whole day. The whole time we had nothing to eat or drink. Then we drove to a clearing and were allowed to use some wood to warm up a little. We lit a campfire and waited there for several hours. At first they kept an eye on us. But to our astonishment, they withdrew and left us alone in the forest at some point. As dusk fell, we decided to do something. We made our way through the forest to the main road. We were surprised when we saw van without plates arriving there. Masked men got out and gave us a choice: either they would take us inland, where we would be locked up for crossing the border without authorisation, or they would take us to the Polish border. Of course, everyone was in favour of Poland. They immediately put us in the vans and we travelled towards Poland.
When we arrived there, we were queued up one behind the other. It was pitch black there. Then they ordered us to walk forwards, in complete darkness, into the middle of a cornfield that lay between Belarus and Poland. We walked like this for about half an hour until we came to a large open field. We could already see the lights of a Polish village. We decided to go there. But night vision cameras had spotted our movements and Polish border guards surrounded us completely.
#Poland
The border guards began to transport us inland. The families were first in line. I had to wait three hours in the field until it was finally my turn. We were taken to a former training camp. There, we were detained for a week. Then they promised to take us to a better place, but the exact opposite happened. In a procedure that lasted over ten hours, they transported us from this camp to a similar place. There they took our money and our mobile phones. I was put in a wing with ten complete strangers. I stayed in quarantine for a fortnight to prevent the spread of Covid. Then we were to assemble on a football pitch. The area was completely fenced in. There were small modular buildings for four people each.
For four months, I was stuck on this football pitch. With no contact with the outside world, I had no choice but do nothing. Eventually they decided to take me to another camp, this time near the German border. This was even worse than the previous one. Basically, it was more like a prison. Each wing housed over 200 people, spread out over ten rooms, so over 20 people per room. My privacy was reduced to the bed I slept on. I had to endure this for another four months before they finally decided to release me on 1 April 2022. They sent me to an orphanage in the centre of the country. That was a difficult moment because I was now separated from my brother and my cousin. They were older than 18 and I was younger. But from then on, I could move around freely. I stayed in this home for three days. Then I decided to go to Warsaw to see what would be best for me from there. In Warsaw, I stayed in a camp for Ukrainian refugees for five days. I had no other accommodation. Eight months had passed since my arrival in Minsk and I had travelled around so much and experienced so much. By then, I was beginning to lose sight of the goal I had when leaving Iraq. My brother and cousin were forced to be fingerprinted in Poland. As a result, they were no longer allowed to leave the country under the Dublin Convention. So I had to make a decision and I remembered my original destination, Berlin. I was determined to get there, even without a clear plan and even though I was completely alone and didn’t know anyone there.
#Berlin
When I arrived in Berlin, I introduced myself to an organisation that supports minors. I was very surprised at how nice they were to me. Due to the pandemic, I had to do a Covid swab. Then they asked me if I had anything with me that listed my first name or surname or said anything about my origins. At least I had a photo of my passport. After a few more formalities, they gave me a leaflet with an address. I used the internet to find the place and could have been there in 40 minutes, but it took me a whole three hours because I didn't know my way around with public transport. When I got there, I went to one of their staff, told them who I was and that I had been promised I could sleep here. He confirmed this was true and took me to a small empty room. After he introduced himself and showed me around, I was so exhausted that all I wanted to do was sleep. I woke up at least twelve hours later. It was then that I gradually realised where I was and what difficulties I was facing. For four months, I moved from one refugee centre to the next until I finally received the decision from the youth welfare office that they were responsible for me. This marked the beginning of a new chapter in my journey to Berlin.
#Neukölln
I had my first flat in Neukölln. I think I spent the best times of my life in this flat in this neighbourhood. I walked through the bustling streets and some things even reminded me of my home town of Basra. In Neukölln I became familiar with Berlin and this shaped my relationship with the city.
#German
I learnt German and could never have imagined I would love this language so much. The language is the key to everything here. Through the language, I have met new people, both German and non-German, and it has allowed me to make connections to other people. One day I will speak it better than the Germans.
#Asylum
I was still a minor when my asylum procedure began. It was shortly after I arrived here. My personal interview with the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees – BAMF – took place at the beginning of 2023. By then, I had been an adult for three months and my asylum application was rejected. I broke down and didn’t leave my flat for a week. I was lost and didn’t know what to do. A refugee organisation advised me to appeal and not to stop learning German. And that’s exactly what I did.
#Volunteering
I started registering with and working for volunteer organisations, a Kreuzberg association that looks after new arrivals. The Neukölln soup kitchen helps the needy by cooking for them every week. I needed this work to gather myself somehow. I would never have expected to be honoured at a festival for volunteers in Neukölln as the youngest volunteer. When I arrived late to the event with a friend, my name had just been called and I had no idea what to expect on stage. It was a strange, beautiful moment.
#Friendship
Around two years have passed since I arrived in Berlin. A new language, new places, weather that is too cold for me – many things are different to how they used to be, and above all the new city. I think I have accomplished quite a bit during this time and got to know a different world. But every time I say to myself that I know Berlin, the city comes back and surprises me with something new, and I love it all the more for that. I first learnt the meaning of the word ‘friendship’ here. Berlin has also taught me discipline and how to find my own rhythm in life. One of my favourite places is Tempelhofer Feld, especially in summer – when it is teeming with people enjoying themselves and doing all kinds of sports. I also particularly like the Schillerkiez, a small neighbourhood in Neukölln. As a child, I dreamed of going to university in Berlin or London. Since I arrived here, I’ve been working on making this dream come true. Despite all the difficulties, I have learnt in this city that you should never give up. In life, every rejection is a new opportunity.
Some time ago, I was walking with an Iraqi friend through a neighbourhood where there were only small streets and old houses. Lost in thought, I told him: ‘Come on, I’ll show you something beautiful in my neighbourhood.’ My friend asked me: ‘What neighbourhood are you talking about?’ ‘The old city centre of Basra,’ I said. We both had to laugh and as we walked on, I thought to myself: Berlin could be my new home.
