Ahmed

“The situation in Syria is getting worse and I wanted my family to be safe.” – Ahmed (father of six children)

Ahmed

“My name is Ahmed, I am a conservator/stuccoer from Damascus in Syria. I am in Berlin, along with my family, waiting at LaGeSo to receive a place to stay. I have 5 daughters and one son. Here you see me with my daughter Yuna, she is 7 years old. Originally, my parents fled from Palestine to Syria in 1948 during the Palestine War. The situation in Syria is getting worse and I wanted my family to be safe. They trusted me with the decision to leave our home in Syria. By now, our street and home in Damascus are destroyed. …

Mohammad

“My name is Mohammad, I’m 17 years old and from Aleppo in Syria. My family is still there, my mother, sister and my little brother. I had to leave Syria, because they wanted me to fight in the army. First I went to Turkey for work, to afford the journey to Germany. After three months of work, they said I have to go and they only paid me for two months. As an illegal worker in Turkey, I had no rights and I had to accept it. Along with two relatives, I took a small boat to the island of …

Daryosh

“My name is Daryosh. I’m from Kabul in Afghanistan. I came here with my mother and two of my brothers. My father and my older brother, we had to leave behind. We had to flee after the Taliban threatened to kill us (my father was a police officer). We hope that your country will help us. I would like to go to university and one day become a lawyer. My mothers name is Rena. She is a doctor.”

Intro / ‘Humans who had to flee’

Dear Berlin friends and friends from anywhere far and wide: In the beginning of August, I heard about the dramatic situation outside of the Landesamt für Gesundheit und Soziales (LAGeSo) in my neighbourhood Berlin-Moabit. For hundreds of people who had to flee from their home country and who have been on their way for months, LAGeSo is the first place to go in order to apply for asylum in Germany. The office (run by the Berlin government) seems to be totally overwhelmed which leads to people standing outside for days and also overnight in order to get through to talk …