Refugee Voicesfrom the beneficiaries of the Odysseus Academic

Network’s “Scholarships for Refugees” programme

Monday, 11 July 20167pm-8.30pm, European Parliament

Programme

19:00 – 19:10: Refreshments

19:10 – 19:30: IntroductionBarbara Spinelli, MEP (host)

Professor Philippe De Bruycker, Coordinator of the Academic Network for Legal Studies on Immigration and Asylum in Europe

Yazan Rajab, author of “Nooit meer bang zijn“ (Never be Afraid)

19:30 – 20:30: Presentations by refugee students and exchange of views

Speakers’ Profiles

Juhar Yasin AbamosaEthiopiaAreas of Study: Refugees’ access to higher education in host countries

Profession in my country of origin: Lecturer at a public university

Date of arrival as an asylum seeker: May 11, 2011 to Norway.

Reason for leaving my country of origin: I would like not to say much about this for the sake of my family’s security back home. But generally speaking I left my country because of my political opinion.

Being interested in research and/or PhD study on refugees’ access to higher education in host countries, I always try my best to deepen my understanding of refugees’ situation in host countries including the host countries in Europe. In line with this, I am aware of the fact that many experts from different countries will attend the Summer School, and this alone is a golden opportunity for me both to learn from experienced researchers and practitioners and to build a network for my future research career. Furthermore, I do believe that the Summer School will be a good platform to share experiences with other refugees from different countries. Given all this, I want to attend the Odysseus Network’s 16 th Annual Summer School which I believe can help me to gain deeper insight into different issues related to refugees and immigrants in Europe.

Karam Al HindiSyria (Palestinian)Profession in the country of origin: Social and human rights activist

Date of arrival in Europe: 09/10/2015

Recognized as political refuge in: Belgium.

I want to join the summer school to gain more experience of how the EU law on migration and asylum is built. Through this knowledge I could be able to continue helping people in need and enrich my experience on the field with legal theory

basis. I would really like to share all I faced and learnt about refugees’ needs and social support in these 5 years of revolution (in my country and in my life) with you.

I left my country after a really harsh and bad situation, I have been arrested and sent to prison. And also no one accepted us as activists in human rights field.

Malaz SafarjalaniSyriaArea of Studies: Economics and FinanceProfession in country of Origin: Financial Planning and ControlArrival in Europe: Summer 2012, BelgiumProtection Status: Summer 2013, Belgium

As a consultant on higher education development, In Jamiya.org. I’m looking into hurdles facing Syrian students who are trying to access higher education. It is necessary for our work in Jamiya to analyse and explore these legal, socio-demographic policy

frameworks young people face in development/aid integration and dimensions.

As a consultant on higher education development, my work demands looking into hurdles facing Syrian students who are trying to access higher education and especially those whose education was interrupted. It is necessary for me to understand a wide variety of those legal, socio-demographic disadvantages and their policy background in both with integration and humanitarian aid dimensions.

I came to Belgium in 2012 for my master’s in European Economics in College of Europe, namely better education in a stable country as the situation in Damascus no longer allowed for normal continuation of life.

Anicet BurangaRwandaJe suis né le 11.01.1979 à Ruhango au centre du Rwanda, d’un père agronome et d’une mère enseignante. Orphelin de père à l’âge de 5 ans, je fuis ma patrie âgé 15 ans en 1994 avec ma mère, mes 2 petites soeurs et mon petit-frère au moment où le Rwanda sombrait dans l’horreur de la guerre et du génocide. Très jeune, rescapé et traumatisé, la RD Congo (ex-Zaïre) fut mon premier pays d’asile plutôt d’exil.

Au Zaïre, j’ai vécu environ 2 ans sous les tentes dans les camps de réfugiés. C’était la misère, la violence et la mort dans ces camps. L’épidemie de Choléra, la famine, l’insécurité, le traumatisme, les abus sexuels, l’exploitation des enfants mineurs dont je faisais partie pour ne citer que ça, voilà ce que étaient les camps de réfugiés Rwandais au Zaïre d’autre fois, bien qu’il ne faut jamais oublier certains organismes comme le HCR, CARE, CICR et autres qui essayaient de nous venir en aide.

En 1996 c’est le début de la guerre au Zaïre, les camps des réfugiés rwandais et burundais sont attaqués et brulés. Près de 200.000 réfugiés sont massacrés d’après certains rapports dont le rapport Mapping.

Rescapé de ces carnages, après 6 longues mois de marche dans les forêts zaïroises j’arrive au Congo Brazzaville le 13 mai 1997, traumatisé, séparé de ma mère et de mes soeurs dont j’ignorais le sort, tout jeune perdu loin des miens et de ma terre natale.

Un certain 5 juin 1997, soient 23 jours après mon arrivée au Congo Brazzaville, la guerre commence également là où j’espérais trouver un peu de traquillité. Je décide de fuire vers le Gabon mais le Gabon rapatrie de force les premiers réfugiés rwandais arrivés sur son territoire. Je m’arrête à la frontière du Gabon et décide de rester au Congo malgré guerre que d’être rapatrié de force.

Grâce à Dieu, en fin octobre 1997, c’est la fin de la guerre au Congo Brazzaville. Je décide alors d’aller dans la capitale congolaise y chercher du travail afin de pouvoir reprendre le chemin scolaire, ce qui était mon plus grand rêve. Je me souviens que quand je voyais d’autres jeunes en tenus scolaires, il m’arrivait de pleurer.

En 2000, je parviens à reprendre le chemin scolaire, travaillant la nuit et allant au lycée la journée. J’obtiens mon baccalauréat en 2003, une licence dans les études bibliques en 2005, une licence en management des ressources humaines en 2008, et un master en management des ressources humaines en 2011.

Pendant que je fais mes études supérieures à Brazzaville, j’obtiens un emploi en 2006 dans une agence de conseil en communication appélé NEW LIFE dont je deviendrai responsable en 2007 jusqu’à ce que je quitte le Congo en été 2012.

En septembre 2007, je crée l’association COPAJE-AF (Conseil Promotionnel pour l’Action des Jeunes en Afrique) afin de promouvoir la prise de responsabilité sociale en milieu des jeunes, aujourd’hui présente dans plus de 7 pays africains, voir le lien : http://copajeaf.asso-web.com/

En août 2008, je publie mon premier livre intitulé “LE RWANDA A LA LUMIERE DES ECRITURES” aux éditions Publibook en France.

Désirant jouir ma liberté d’expression et de me sentir en sécurité, je quitte le Congo et arrive en Roumanie le 4 juillet 2012 où j’obtiens un statut de réfugié en août de la même année.

En janvier 2013, mon épouse avec qui je suis marié depuis 2009 et notre première fille me rejoignent en Roumanie dans le cadre de réunification familiale. Notre deuxième fille naîtra en Roumanie en 2013.

Arriver en Roumanie, c’était un rêve d’entrer en Europe. La première bataille était celle d’obtenir mon statut de réfugié. Dieu merci, je l’ai rapidement obtenu, 42 jours après mon arrivée.

Le statut de réfugié était un acte de naissance. Le chemin d’intégration a été dur et l’est toujours mais il faut tenir. Le peuple roumain est acceuillant, mais l’intégration n’est pas du tout à la porte des mains pour les réfugiés et les immigrants particulièrement pour les familles ayant des enfants.

Je pense que pour faciliter l’intégration des réfugiés et des immigrants, l’Union Européenne devrait de tenir compte des réalités de chaque pays membre, associer les immigrants dans les échanges et revoir son apport et certaines lois.

Je suis resté 4 mois dans un camp de demandeurs d’asile après l’obtention de statut de réfugiés en cherchant un emploi. Heureusement que j’avais une expérience et étais francophones. Il m’a fallu également par deux longues années pour obtenir les équivalences de mes diplômes de licence et de master obtenus au Congo.

Détérminé à réussir mon intégration en Roumanie afin d’offrir à ma petite famille un avenir, je viens de teminer une année d’études de langue roumaine à la faculté des lettres de Bucarest. J’envisage améliorer également mon niveau d’anglais très rapidement et si possible faire d’autres formations professionnelles car difficile de compter uniquement sur les diplômes.

Passionné de la vie associative, je compte m’impliquer également de plus en plus pour aider les autres réfugiés et immigrants, ce que je fais déjà de temps à autre comme médiateur communautaire auprès de la fondation ICAR à Bucarest.

Sawsan MaherSyriaMy name is Sawsan Maher, female, 32 years old, Syrian from Aleppo city.

I have a bachelor degree in philosophy and social Science from Aleppo university, and I have a Master degree from Damascus university in Contemporary philosophy.

At the moment I’m trying to find a PHD program in political science.

In 2013 I become a refugee in the Netherlands after I lost my family and my home in Syria, because of AlAssad regime attempt to stop the uprising by bombing civilians.

Anne Elhelwani SyriaMy name is Elhelwani Anne, and I have the Syrian nationality was studying in the university of Damascus in the faculty of human sciences, the English literature branch, at the same time I was studying the psychology in a private institution because I wasn’t able to do it in Damascus university. I was working also in the Syriatel telecommunication company for one year, and while the war in Syria started, I was trying my best to be a part of the people who give a hand help, so I used my experiences and my knowledge to help the people in Syria by going to some organizations who

help the people and I start to do a volunteering works in Damascus and I also I did a workshop in Lebanon to help the children going back to schools after leaving it in Syria, by giving them and their families some tips about how could they apply to the Lebanese schools and is it free or not etc.

I started to read about the politics and the human rights laws and the international laws since the starting of the war, to know what situation am I in side or what is the reality of what we are witness and who is the cause of what we are in. I was trying to know as much as possible about the politics and the right that every human being has and how to ask for my rights, like that I was starting to see the logical view of the reality and to feel that everything is making scene.

I studied in the psychology classes many important things which allowed me to be able to deal with a lot of kind of people and to help the people who has a psychological problems due to the war, also there was the judicial part in my study. To meet the criminals who had a psychological problems and to prove that to the court in order to send him to the clinic or to help the people who experienced some violence. So I was helping the children who lost their family by giving them the hope and show them the nice part of the life.

I had a brother who was forced to go to the army three years ago he left due to a bomb while he was in the army, and after a while of his death, my other brother was forced to go to the army also and we never heard about him for around a year until we met him but he was hurt, and my mother told me that she lost two sons and she don’t want to lose me, she started to push me to leave Syria and to go anywhere safe. At the beginning I didn’t agree to leave her with my sister who’s 15 years old,

But after some problems happened with me in the last period, I realized that if I stay I will 100 percent die, and if I left Syria I would have a 10 percent of surviving because I was seeing the refugees dying everyday in the sea, but I survived finally. I want to study and to have the power of knowledge to be able to stop the violence and to live a day where there is no more refugees cause of the peace, and that also makes me desire of learning about the law and the politics. Also because I am a refugee I knew that its very important to know the European law of refugees and immigration.

I participated in many event in Belgium and Germany during the period of being a refugee. I did a workshops in Belgium for the students and for the public to talk about the importance of having a one society not several societies as it is now. I shared my story with the people also and I spoke about my experience in order to raise the awareness between the people who don’t know what the meaning of refugee.

I am also working with an Italian journalist in a project for the refugees, that was a chance for me to go to Germany where there is the biggest number of refugees in Europe and to meet some people in the camps to have the information and the details of the law and the refugees right and what duties they have to do and what laws they have to respect. I started to help the refugees in Belgium who what to do his/her documents how

and where, because I started to know most of the things about the refugees issues and the progress of being an asylum seeker then to become a refugee.

By studying the European immigration and refugees law, that would allow me to be able to help more of the refugees and also to be able to raise the awareness on the citizens who don’t know about the refugees, that would help me to know my rights and to avoid any mistake in the law. to be aware about how to respect the law of the country that I am living in is something very important.

I am so happy that I have been accepted in the summer school and I would like to thank everyone who was a part of this very nice work.

Tamim NashedSyriaStudies: Bachelor of English Literature in Syria, Master of Business Administration MBA in Australia

Profession: Programme Manager for various NGOs to empower Syrian local communities and within the private sector in Syria

Date of asylum: I arrived to Europe/Austria in October 2012, and received Asylum in March 2013.

Currently I work for Caritas Austria as a project coordinator. In addition to this, I have been assigned by the International Organization for Migration as a Bi-Cultural Trainer within the framework of Humanitarian Admission Programme for Syrian Refugees (HAP). The focus of my work is on Integration, asylum policies and procedures within the European Union und Austria. One of the main issues which we face in our daily work with refugees and unaccompanied minor refugees is the Dublin Regulation and its effects on the process of getting asylum in addition to other related topics like family reunification, return and readmission policy, and status of asylum seekers and protected persons. Based on my previous experience in Syria and current work, I am very excited to participate in the Summer School and get the opportunity to meet other graduates, professionals, and lecturers in addition to discovering the European Capital and the European institutions, which will in turn aid my process of building my career in the field of asylum law and integration by receiving comprehensive understanding of immigration and asylum policy at EU level.

I left Syria because of the war. Although the war already started in Aleppo in 2012, I kept working there and we worked with Internally Displaced People IDPs in Aleppo. But you reach a moment, when you have to decide, whether to stay and risk your life in Aleppo, or to take a decision and leave, and with the second decision you risk everything, maybe you keep living, but on the other hand you lose everything, you lose your past and what you have been building for years.

The Odysseus Network warmly thanks the sponsors who made this initiative possible

Odysseus Academic Network

Insitute for European StudiesUniversité libre de Bruxelles

39 Franklin Roosevelt Avenue1050 Brussels

Tel: +32 (0)2 650 4996Email: odysseus@ulb.ac.be

Find us on social media

Twitter: @OdysseusNetworkFacebook and LinkedIn:

Odysseus Academic Network