Suhaila had only been on the road from Damascus for six days when she arrived on the island by rubber boat along with seven family members. A day later she came, puffing from the heat, to take a seat on a bench just outside the village of Molyvos. Happily the sun was just setting.
‘How are you doing?’ Petra asked. ‘Good,’ Suhaila said bravely, ‘but I am very tired.’ The past night she and her family had to sleep on the ground of the parking lot for the first time in her life.
The ice was broken, and a beautiful conversation followed. Petra talked about her perseverance to go to study later in life, and what that had brought her. Suhaila talked about her studies in mechanical engineering at the university of Damascus. Thanks to the open and curious questions from Petra, everything was discussed: music, love, marriage, children and
