marieclaire.com.au 61Travelling with her husband, Haji,
and two daughters, Jamilah left
behind a career as a beautician
to begin a better life for her
family in Europe. They arrived
in Greece a few weeks after
the northern border was closed,
ending a journey that had taken
them over mountains and across
frigid rivers in Turkey.
Arriving at City Plaza was like
“opening a door to paradise,” says
Jamilah. “We have everything we
need here.” The perilous journeyleft its mark, however: she suffers
from high blood pressure and has
trouble eating saltier foods.
Jamilah, a Muslim, is now
exploring an aspect of life that
has remained foreign – she’s
been going to church.
“I want to learn the religion,”
she says. It’s something she wasn’t
able to do in Iran and, if the request
Jamilah filed to join her 28-year-
old son in Germany is accepted,
she wants to be as familiar with
the new culture as possible.A harrowing journey from Iran to City Plaza
only steeled Sara’s* determination to realise
a better future for her and her family. After
being held for more than a month by smugglers
in Turkey who had promised them safe passage,
Sara and her family were eventually transported
via a freezer truck that lacked ventilation – they
had to cut holes in the lining to survive.
Then, during a dangerous crossing of
the Mediterranean Sea to Greece, Sara’s
raft nearly sank when the outboard motor
died. The ordeal continued when they finally
arrived at Elliniko, a makeshift camp housed
in an old Athens airport. The site’s dilapidated
buildings lacked proper showers and Sara and
her mother were forced to wash using water
from the toilet. They moved into City Plaza
the second week it was open.
“I never thought I would be lucky enough
to move out of that camp and live in a building
like this,” says the 16-year-old. “I want to be an
educated mother [when I have] kids. I fled Iran
because I felt I only had a dark future there.”
Now, she takes English classes twice a
week and, with the help of a dictionary, is
working her way through a copy of Elena
Ferrante’s The Days of Abandonment.
*Sara asked that her name be changed
due to the sensitive nature of her asylum case.Sara looks after her
younger brother and
is studying English.JAMILAH MUSAVI SHAKOOR,49, IS
FROM IRAN. SHE AND HER FAMILY
LIVE IN ROOM 213GREG DONAHUE SARA REZAEI, 16, IS A STUDENT FROM IRAN. SHE LIVES IN ROOM 326 WITH HER FAMILY