Had to pick between staying in a refugee camp in Greece or heading to Germany alone

Last year I was stuck in a camp near Athens for 8 months and got offered relocation to Berlin but my sister stayed behind. I took the chance figuring a fresh start beat waiting forever. Got to Berlin with nothing but a duffel and 200 euros, rented a room in Neukölln for cheap. Learning German is brutal but I found work packing boxes at a warehouse after 3 weeks. Anyone else had to split from family to rebuild somewhere new?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavin_kim31mo ago

What is it about this year that's got everyone making these impossible family split decisions? I've been watching this play out at my job at a community center in Berlin and it's like every third person I meet has a story about leaving someone behind in a camp or a conflict zone. The way people just quietly carry that weight while learning a new alphabet and figuring out which bus goes where, it's something you don't see on the news. You made the hard call but at least you're building something real now instead of just existing in limbo. I see so many people here who did the same thing, they're working night shifts and sharing cramped flats but they're also slowly putting down roots. The German bureaucracy will drive you insane but the city itself has a way of absorbing people if you give it enough time.

robin_wright1mo ago

My neighbor in the Kreuzberg building I'm in, she's from Homs and her sister's still stuck in one of those camps in Idlib. She calls her every Thursday night, I can hear her crying through the thin walls sometimes. But during the day she's out there at the bakery, learning German from her coworkers, saving up for a proper apartment. That quiet determination, it's honestly humbling. You see it all over the place here, people rebuilding from nothing. Are you finding that the community center folks tend to bond more over the shared struggles or the small wins?