Syrian refugee in Iceland

“A bomb shell fell on our house and for weeks we were locked down in Damascus with explosions and shots all around us”

Muhammad Alzurqan, a 17 year old Syrian refugee living in Iceland, describes how he was forced to leave his home country, as well as his journey to Iceland and the way he adapted to a new culture

MARÍA MADALENA MANCEBO MANN AND YZAN SAAVEDRA ESCALANTE | Kópavogur (Iceland) - Santiago de Compostela

“A bomb shell fell on our house”, that’s Muhammad’s opening line when he tells why he and his family had to leave Syria. Right after that Damascus was shut down and nobody could leave the city. Living under constant threat from “explosions and shots” they could finally make it to his parents hometown in the south, but they finally left the country for a refugee camp in Lebanon where the UN gave them the chance to settle in Iceland. Muhammad remembers well: “We got lucky and were offered the chance to go to Iceland. It was a difficult decision for my parents [...] They were worried about the impact it would have on our family”. But, after more than three years, Alzurqan “would absolutely encourage” refugee families who are thinking about settling in Europe.

QUESTION: Why did you and your family leave Syria?

ANSWER. One day, a bomb shell fell on our house. During the following weeks, a ban was introduced and no one could get in or out of the city where I was living, Damascus. During those weeks there were still explosions and shots all around us. When the ban was lifted, we took our chance and fled the area. We went to my parents’ village a few miles away. In the village there were still many problems, so we fled again, this time to Lebanon, where my grandparents were living.

Q. Can you tell us how your normal life was there, before the war?

A. It was a pretty regular life. We owned a house. Me and my brother went to school. My father had a job… It was just a pretty normal life. One I was happy with.

Q. Can you describe a normal day for you during the war?

A. The shooting was constant. It was sad how hearing gunfire became a normal part of life. You could hear it 24/7. It was just a part of living there. There would be some days when there was no electricity. Some days when we had to wake up very early. Other days where we had nothing to do. School became an irregular thing and sometimes it would shut down because not enough kids came. The parents were scared to send them to school.

Q. When and why did things get worse in order for your family to think about leaving?

A. So, as I mentioned before, after the shell destroyed our house, we had to leave the city. In the village it was very hard for us, especially for my father because it was very far away from his job. Multiple killings happened. Because of this we normally couldn’t go to school. There wasn’t a turning point where we decided it had gone too far. It was more of a continuous toll that made us move to Lebanon.

Q. How do you remember the moment you left your friends and family?

A. I was still pretty young back then, so I just thought of it as a trip. I was very happy because I thought it was going to be a short trip, around 2 or 3 months, until things got better back home. But it turned out to be a much longer trip that what I had expected.

Q. How was your trip to Europe, what where the most complicated moments for a family of 6 on their way here?

A. The trip was completely fine. There were absolutely no complications. We had the chance to come to Iceland trough the UN which took care of the trip and everything until we got to Iceland.

Q. Why and how did you get to Iceland?

A. We registered as refugees in Lebanon, and the UN sometimes gives help to legally registered refugees. Depending on their situation (and their luck) they will get chances to go to live in other countries that want to help. We got lucky and were offered the chance to go to Iceland. It was a difficult decision for my parents; they were unsure of moving to a country so different from ours, leaving our friends, our family, a country where we could speak our native tongue pretty regularly... They were worried about the impact it would have on our family.

Q. How do you remember the moment you arrived in Reykjavik?

A. We met the prime minister and other ministers of Iceland. They were very kind… There were also some volunteers from the Red Cross who welcomed us. I just remember it being very cold and very different. I also remember getting to the bus and arriving to our new house, where our welcome family was waiting. They were a volunteer family who helped us adapt to Iceland. I remember them teaching us how to use the bus system and with many other things.

Q. How do you remember the first day at school? How did your classmates react?

A. I think it was pretty normal. They wouldn’t ask any questions about how I ended up in Iceland. I think it was because they knew the topic was kind of sensitive. I remember being welcomed by everyone and that made me really happy.

Q. How did the language barrier affect you?

A. I would say I’m pretty lucky. The people here mostly can speak English, so that wasn’t a problem. I was lucky to go to an English speaking school as well, so that helped a lot.

Q. It’s been more than 3 years since your arrival, how is a normal day in Iceland for you?

A. It’s pretty average. I wake up, have breakfast and go to school. I work in the afternoon. On my free time I go out or study. There many things to do here: the swimming pools, the parks…

Q. Looking back, what was the most difficult part of adapting to this new, very different culture?

A. I wouldn’t say there where many complications. It was just a bit hard because the culture is so different. In Syria we are mostly Muslims, and here there are mostly Christians. Back there the atmosphere was quite religious, which in Iceland it’s not. There are many new things here I wasn’t used to, like different sexualities. These weren’t really a problem to understand, but it was very, very different from my home country.

Q. Looking ahead, where and how do you see yourself in 5 or 6 years?

A. Well I’ll hopefully be done with the IB program, and almost done with my studies in the University. I want to study engineering or something along those lines.

Q. Will you consider going back to Syria now that the war seems to be at its end?

A. I would love to visit my country again and I hope the war is coming to an end, but it doesn’t seem like it. This hasn’t been the first time everyone thinks it’s about to end, but then a foreign force comes to help end the war and makes it worse again. But I would love to go back to Syria if it actually comes to an end.

Q. What message would you give to families who are looking to come to Europe and escape from their home countries?

A. Well, I would absolutely encourage it. Sometimes the situation is so horrible you just have to get away. I may not have seen the worse, but I have an understanding of how it is living there. I would say if countries like Iceland opened their doors for refugees, they should totally take the chance.