“Μy biggest dream is to study medicine”
We ask him if he wants to send a message to the children who will read his story. “I want to say to the children who have left their countries that they should not waste time, and learn Greek, go to school and participate in all activities”.
“My name is Shuja but I prefer to be called Haider”, says our 17-year-old friend from Pakistan. We met him a few days before World Children’s Day, November 20th, at SolidarityNow’s Solidarity Center in Thessaloniki where he has been attending Greek lessons the last months. We sit in one of the classrooms. A large world map is on the wall. How far is Pakistan from Greece…
Haider arrived at Greece with his family a year ago. Last year he was registered in the A grade of Lyceum and this year he goes to the B grade. “At the beginning I had a big problem with the language. I did not understand anything in the classroom”, he points out. However, this year he has made great progress. He keeps his own notebook, where he writes the verbs and all the new words he learns. “This is my technique, I learn verbs and words and I try to speak Greek”, he adds, smiling. He believes that Greek is a difficult language, but he likes it. SolidarityNow, his teachers at school and his classmates have played an important role in his progress. “Our teachers are disciplined and punctual. They teach us and give us homework, while at the same time they make us laugh with their jokes. They also teach us ethos and how to build a strong character”, he underlines. As for his classmates, the majority of them are not able to speak English well, but they encourage him to speak Greek, like his friend Savvas, with whom he plays basketball and soccer.
Haider came to the Thessaloniki Solidarity Center five months ago to learn Greek. We ask him who is his favorite teacher and he tells us that he cannot choose. “I give my credits to SolidarityNow for its Greek language lessons. I learned many new words!”, he tells us.
Τhe educational courses at Thessaloniki Solidarity Center are designed for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants and are provided free of charge with the support of UNICEF. As Haider tells us, the atmosphere in the classroom is very pleasant. Children help each other, and he is the one who encourages his classmates to speak only in Greek. “I have made many friends from Syria, Iraq and Turkey. I urge them to speak only Greek“, he explains.
Algebra, biology, chemistry and computer science are his favorite lessons. Beyond a diligent student, Haider writes lyrics and sings in English. He has already written three songs, the first one is about love, the second about sadness and the third about happiness. “I was listening to songs and I thought that if I can write my own lyrics and sing them, feelings will be more intense”, he says. He tells us that when he was in Pakistan, he has started to write a novel about revolution. His goal now is to complete it. Our friend is a musician, a poet, an artist, a writer. “I want to do it all, I don’t want to leave anything behind. If I’m not good, I’ll leave it. I have many dreams, let’s see what will eventually come true. However, my biggest dream is to study medicine”. Destiny sometimes plays strange games. When Haider was still in Pakistan, he read about ancient Greek medicine. He had promised himself that one day he would come to Greece to study medicine. Now he is here, and we wish him his dream to come true.
Before we finish our conversation, we ask him if he wants to send a message to the children who will read his story. “I want to say to the children who have left their countries that they should not waste time, and learn Greek, go to school and participate in all activities.”
*Thessaloniki Solidarity Center is supported by Open Society Foundations.
*The SolidarityNow Educational Program at the Thessaloniki Solidarity Center is supported by UNICEF, with funding from the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department (ECHO).