Rojin Namer

Rojin Namer | Foto © Rottkay
Photo © Rottkay

Rojin (*2002), the eldest of five children and originally from Kamishli in the Kurdish region, fled alone from Damascus. Rojin means »sunshine«, and Namer means »tiger«. Until her flight, Rojin had lived as a refugee in Iraq with her family. In response to the horrors of war and the escalation of the situation after 2013, Rojin set out for Germany with her uncle in 2015 at the age of twelve. Their journey, via Turkey, Greece, Serbia and Austria, lasted about twenty-seven days altogether. She spent ten days in prison in Athens and had to continue her flight to Germany alone. Today she lives in a home run by the charity Caritas in Berlin, is a successful participant in debating competitions, and would like to study philosophy. In everyday situations, for example when she hears the sound of aircraft, her fear and memories of wartime days sometimes return. In 2019 Rojin Namer was awarded the THEO (Berlin-Brandenburg Prize for Youth Literature) in the category »linguistic space«.