READER’S DIGEST
July• 2019 | 133We rode for about an hour and a
half until we came to Apatin, and
walked across a cornfield into Cro-
atia. We were happy to see the blue
sign with a ring of yellow stars show-
ing that we were in the EU, so no more
borders. We were on our way again.
The police picked us up and sent
us to the capital, Zagreb, a beautiful
town with grand buildings from the
Habsburg Empire. After a few days
we were able to take a taxi to the Slo-
venian border. The scenery was beau-
tiful. We couldn’t believe how green
Europe was.
From Slovenia we went to Austria,
then arrived in Germany on Septem-
ber 21, 2015, after a month on the
road and traveling some 5600 kilo-
metres across nine countries: Syria,
Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia,
Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Ger-
many. We met up with Bland and
Shiar, and by November we were set-
tled in a small town called Wesseling,
about 15 kilometres from Cologne
where Shiar lives.
The first day I ever went to school
was just a month shy of my 17th
birthday, in November 2015. I was
nervous but also happy, for finally I
could say I had done something nor-
mal in my life.
I went to a hospital in Bonn for
tests. There is surgery in my future,
which will help my legs, and I now
have medication that controls my
nerves. I also go to a physiothera-
pist who gets me to stretch and to
use a kind of bicycle to build up my
muscles. Already I am feeling the
difference.
I miss my country and my parents,
but Nasrine and I Skype almost every
day with my parents back in Gaziant-
ep. I like the four seasons in Germa-
ny, the different colours of leaves and
different clouds. But most of all I like
the fact that we are safe.
Meanwhile, I got my asylum in
December 2016, and I am actually
becoming quite Germanised, wak-
ing up at 6am and doing German
stuff like making appointments and
being on time!
I know I am lucky. Everything
back in Syria has gotten even worse.
Around five million of my country-
men have left since the war started
and about one million of them, like
us, have made the journey to Europe.
Of those who stayed in Syria, as many
as 500,000 have been killed.
I know that migrants have cost
Germans lots of money. But give us a
chance, and we can contribute. We
are quite resilient and resourceful –
you have to be to navigate all the way
here – and most of us are skilled or
educated. As for me, I hadn’t gone to
school. But I do now. I speak Kurdish
and Arabic, and I’m learning
German. And I also speak f luent
soap-opera English.FROMPUBLISHED 2016 BY HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS, HARPERCOLLINS.COMTHE GIRL FROM ALEPPO, © 2016 BY CHRISTINA LAMB AND NUJEEN MUSTAFA,