‘We never thought that this would happen to us as Syrians,’ he said, ‘that we would be separated by a war.’
‘What do you miss the most?’ Tilmann asked. Ghanem answered: ‘In our Arabic culture social contacts are very important and we want to keep that. I miss my wife, children and grandchildren very much. I hope that Allah can help us to be together again, because living this way is far too painful.’ He pointed to his heart and looked down.
Happily the Ghanem family were able to make a fast trip. Two weeks after this conversation his granddaughter emailed us that they had safely arrived in southern Germany. Here the process started to receive a residency permit. Ghanem missed his carpenter’s very much and sitting still and doing nothing had been difficult for this craftsman.
In early December we unexpectedly received word that his wife had arrived in Germany and the couple had been reunited. When they realized that the family reunification would take far too long, she decided to make the same journey as he had done.
