Crew stories
NO MATTER HOW ROUGH THE ROAD IS, KEEP FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS
By MAHER HOSIN, future pilot
1992! EM-final! Denmark vs. Germany! I watched the football match with my big brother on our small screen TV. My brother was with Germany, like everyone else! But I was a Denmark fan. And when Denmark scored their first goal, something happened inside of me. I don’t know what it was. As you say: ”Hutelihut!” (WOW! We did it!) It was then that I heard about Denmark, for the first time in my life. Who would have thought that 23 years later the road will take me there. I would move over there, to start a new life on Danish land. My name is Maher, I am from Damascus and I studied to become a pilot until the war started.
I dreamt of being a pilot just like my dad. Unfortunately, he died in a car accident 5 years ago and ever since my mother had to assume the role of both mother and father. I remember that we used to spend a lot of quality time together in the kitchen. My sister was not interested in cooking, so I tried to help mom in the household work. Now I can tell you that I LOVE cooking and experimenting new recipes. One day, when I was little, my mom came home from work and started screaming: “MAHER!!! What did you do to my kitchen!??!” It was one big mess, because I tried to cook sfiha, a kind of Arabic pizza filled with meet, which mom actually enjoyed at the end.
When the war began in Syria, Bashar Al-Assad started bombing the people. So when the election time came, I was sure his time was over. Surprisingly he got 95 % of the votes! 95 %! That was it for me! I was so angry, but also afraid in the same time; afraid of what was about to happen. That was the night I decided to leave Syria. My mom lived in another area, surrounded by the military; so when I was calling her we were always using codes, in order to let her know about my plan: ”Mama, I am going to do it, tonight”.
My next move was to take a minibus to Turkey. I chose to continue my trip to Greece by boat. Then I had to go by foot through Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, all the way to Austria. I knew that I have to go further on to Germany and when I arrived in Denmark, I stopped. I didn’t continue to Sweden like most of the refugees did. It was like in the soccer final game against Germany. I don’t know what it was, but I really felt that Denmark was the right choice for me to fulfill my dreams.
Now, 18 months after the elections in Syria, I still dream of becoming a pilot like my father. I live in Copenhagen, where I follow the courses of a General Adult Education Programme, called VUC (The Danish Voksenuddannelsescenter, which is part of the public education system). I have excellent classmates who love my cooking, especially my sfiha. But I have to admit that I really miss making a mess of my mom’s kitchen…
