THE MEETING 

"What is your favourite game to play?" school teacher Monique asked 7-year-old Joana. They were sitting on a beach bed at the end of a blistering hot day in which Joana and her father had made the crossing from Turkey to Lesbos. "Hide-and-seek," Joana said, "playing hide-and-seek with Diana."

When their house in Aleppo was destroyed two years ago Joana and her family fled to Turkey. But after two years of living in a country without any education for them, the family decided to make the crossing to Europe. The little girl had in the meantime learned such good Turkish that she was now the translator in the negotiations between the Syrians and the human traffickers.

"Happily you are safe now in Greece," Monique said, "we are very happy about that. Are you going to stay here now?" "No," Joana said, "we are on the way to Germany. And Mama is coming later."

With three cameras around her Joana became a bit shy. "Could you maybe sing a song from home?"

Monique asked.  That was a good idea. The sea became quiet. The space was filled by a sweet child's voice. 'Bravo!" Monique clapped when she was finished, "shall I now sing a song for you?" The teacher in Monique decided upon the very Dutch song: "this fist on this fist, and that's how I climb up."  When they were finished Monique said: "This is a special song for all of the strong little girls who travel from Turkey to Germany."

A few weeks later we received a message from the father of Joana that they had safely reached Bremen in Germany. A month and a half later mother and her brothers took the same route to Germany.

Despite the good news that the family had been reunited we received a message in mid-December that they were feeling bad. While others who had arrived later had already received their papers, they were left still waiting in a camp for the beginning of their procedure. We hope that they will quickly receive their papers and that Joana can soon go back to school.