RAID (IRAQ)

AUGUST 2016 TO OCTOBER 2017

My name is Raid. I am 17 years old and I am from Iraq. When I was in Turkey I was trying to learn English because I knew that English is very important and global. After the borders opened between Turkey and Greece, we came by boat to Greece. Before Habibi Center was founded I met the teachers at Habibi Kitchen which was a kitchen that cooked food for us and all the refugees who were in that camp. I was helping them in the kitchen. Actually I was not thinking of studying English at the kitchen but they told me and other guys that we have to learn English one hour every day and I was so happy to have this opportunity because it was always my dream to speak English fluently. After the kitchen was closed Steph and Toby, who were working as volunteers and teaching us English in the kitchen at the same time, decided to open the Habibi Center. At the beginning of Habibi Center I could not actually go to Habibi Center every day because I was often busy with translating in hospitals inside the camp. I was going to Habibi whenever I had time because I knew that I can improve my English. We were going to Habibi Center on foot but then they rented a bus. The bus was coming to the camp, picking us up and bringing us to camp after school. After, UNHCR decided to separate the people who were in the camp, taking part of us to another village, but the teachers did not leave us. They had the bus pick us up from there also and bring us to Habibi Center. After almost six months, UNHCR decided to move us again but this time was to Athens. After this decision I lost hope of ever going to Habibi Center and it was very difficult for me to leave people that I spent the best days of my life with and people that taught me English. After we moved, the teachers came to us in Athens. One teacher left because he had to go back home and there was only one teacher with us, which was Steph. She said that we are gonna open Habibi Center here. I was surprised and at the same time happy. I said that is gonna be great and I will be able to improve my English more and more. Steph could not find somewhere to teach us in the beginning. Then she said that we will go to an Internet Café to study on the computers. We were doing our tasks in English and Math and sending on the internet to our teachers in Spain and England. Steph helped us and taught us to work and she and Toby and Alex were uploading tasks. We were doing these tasks and sending back to them to check it. After a couple days, Steph found an apartment and we were going there every day. After studying for almost six months in Athens, the teachers came up with an idea of doing Cambridge exams. At the beginning I did not know anything about that but Steph explained to us how it is. I took A2 exam and I did not pass. Then, after 2-3 months I tried again and this time I passed. After my friends and I passed A2 exam, she started to prepare us for B1 exam. At this time my family was accepted to go to Germany. Two of my friends did not take B1 exam because they went to Germany before the exam. Two other friends and I took the B1 exam. After we took the exam, we came to Germany. I was very happy when I heard that I passed the exam and then, after Steph got a Certificate, she sent it to me to Germany After being here in Germany for almost one year Steph asked me and my friends if we can meet again and we said okay. Then she came to Germany with Adam and taught us English here also. She wanted us to do B2 exam. We studied English for almost three weeks but we did not take the B2 exam because we did not have enough time to study for it. But we learned a lot of things. I am now living in Germany and I am still able to speak English. I will take the B2 exam as soon as I get enough education for it. I always say that I was lucky to meet these kind people. I am very happy that I was a student in Habibi Center and I thank the teachers and everyone who made this great school possible. From my heart, Raid Youssef