Radua from Syria is a mother of nine children.

She has been in Greece for more than a year with five of her children. Her four older children live in different countries of the world; the 25-year-old son of hers lives with his father in Germany and the other three, all girls, in three different countries.

The 45-year-old Radua has requested family reunification with her husband and son who are in Germany. Her husband, Mohammad, and their son, Sojdar, have been in the northern Europe for four years now and are working, “paving the way” to welcome the rest of the family.

Father and son are both musicians.

That was their job -and their love- back in Syria. They were lucky and now they work as musicians in Germany. The eldest musician plays the bouzouki and the younger the synthesizer – together they participate in many performances that take place in different parts of Germany and manage to live with dignity. When Radua talks about their work moves her legs to the beat – in the rhythm of a song of their homeland, one of the songs that Mohammad was playing for his wife.

The five younger siblings look forward to reunite with their father and brother; they pray for it and are patient, as the 45-year-old Radua says and mentions “with all I have been through, I look so much older than I am. I will turn back the clock when I go to Germany“.

*Radua’s family is hosted in the organization’s accommodation structure in Paiania operated under the ESTIA, the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation programme, implemented by the UNHCR and funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).