Hossinali Nazari

full interview

Can you please introduce yourself? 
Ah my name is Hossin Ali Nazari, I am from Afghanistan and I am 29 years old.

In what type of house do you live currently?
Ah, I live in a house. 

Can you please explain its conditions? 
Ah yes I can explain. Ah well, now, I don’t live in an organization house. I am in my own house. I have rented it myself and am paying for the rent. 

Who do you live with? 
Ah I was living with my friends until now but I am planning to live alone after this. 

How do you spend your time here? Do you work? 
Ah … from the time I have come here … it has been around 4 years that I am living here. I live in Lesbos and I have spent most of my time there before. When I had newly come here, I was in Moria camp for a year and a half. I was helping different organizations voluntarily. That is how I was spending my time; these activities. 

What makes you happy? 
Ah, the reason for my happiness … well … to have a peaceful life and have a job, ah be able to continue my education. 

How has life been from the time you have come to Europe? What has been difficult for you and what has been good for you? 
Hard … well … There have been hardships from the time I entered Europe. I really had hard times when I was in Moria. Many people would tell me they have lived in Moria but we actually had a really hard time there. Ah, I waited for a long time for my immigration case. Totally, when I came out of Morai, the condition was very hard for me because it was very hard for me to find a job. Ah … I am good now, it is not bad. It is a little bit … better. 

Can you explain how it feels to live here? 
Ah … the feeling … from the time I entered Europe … I have felt secure until now. I feel calm. 

How does it feel to be far from your family and how has it affected you? Can you explain it? A
Ah … being far from family is actually very hard for every person. But personally for me, yes, it is hard for me. And sometimes when I think about my family, it gets hundred percent hard. Sometimes I feel that I am far from my family. I have this feeling sometimes. But it generally has not affected me much because I was most of the time far from my family when I was in Iran. Well ah … it has not had a great impact on my mood. 

Could you think of overcoming this situation? How could you overcome these problems? 
Hundred percent. Well I … always, I mean I always think about my life. I always try to keep my spirits high so that I can overcome these problems. Well, I have fought with all the problems until now. But well, I succeeded. So far, I have made progress the way I wanted to. But there are hard times and it has its difficulties and I have been able to overcome them. 

Do you think you have gained the abilities to overcome these challenges or you used to have these abilities before? 
Ah No, I didn’t have these skills before but well … ahm … sometimes … well … hard times come, and we fight against them and people can find a way to fight it and … to make progress and to survive. 

How has coronavirus affected your daily life and feelings? 
Ah … it has not affected my feelings but well, corona is a virus that is global. It has had a distinct impact over the whole society from different perspectives like jobs and everything. But it has not affected me personally. It means, it is normal to me. It is like other years when there was no corona. 

Why did you leave your own country? Can you explain what happened? 
My own country … well … personally, when I left my country, I was six years old. My family … because of the problems that were in Afghanistan … We were living in a place where some of them were Taliban. And my family left Afghanistan because of the problems they had with the Taliban and came to Iran. 

And what happened when you left Iran? 
From Iran … as I told you that because of the problems that … most of the immigrants who live in Iran do not have an identity. They do not receive any help from the government of Iran. A lot of people, not only me, there are a lot of Afghan immigrants who live in Iran and most of them, like 30 to 40 percent of them, are coming to Europe. Because of the problems they have; they do not have any identity and they do not get any support from the government of Iran. 

What was your feeling at that time? 
What did you say? When … I had a feeling that … when we left Afghanistan, I was just a child and I knew nothing but when I came to Europe from Iran, I would sometimes think that being far from my family was hard for me. Well again, I chose this way and I always wished to achieve my dreams. But until now, I have not totally achieved all of them but yeah, I have reached some of my goals but I still have a lot of things that I need to do. 

How was your trip to Europe? Did you have any special experience that you would like to talk about? 
My trip towards Europe, from the time I came to Turkey from Iran and from Turkey to Greece, ah I didn’t have a lot of experience because I … ah … hadn’t traveled alone before that. That is one. Second was that I hadn’t come illegally. So I had a lot of experiences from my trip to Europe. 

Can you explain it a little more? 
Ah yes. The only thing ……. The time I came to Turkey from Iran, well … It was really hard for me. I was thinking that I may or may not be able to reach here. When we started our trip from Iran to Turkey, we spent six to seven days on deserts and mountains without any water or food and nothing, not even any aid. There were six to seven families with us. Although I was single, when I was seeing other families with children … the condition I was in and looking at those families, I had a kind of bad feeling. I was saying immigration is really hard. 

What was your feeling at that time? 
Well ah … feeling … sometimes I would feel … my feeling was … when we were at the border between Iran and Turkey, I was with a family and we were going and getting closer to Turkey’s border when the smugglers told us to be very careful in this part so the police do not catch us. Then at that time I was thinking that we might not be able to cross over and reach the place we wanted to. It means we might not enter Turkey’s soil. I always had this feeling that now that I have chosen this way, I will go as far as I can. I will continue this way. Then after half an hour or one hour, the police came and caught everyone. I had no hope at that time. I was thinking that they will deport us to Iran. And if they would deport us to Iran, Iran would hundred percent deport us to Afghanistan as it has done this to so many other people. It would get so hard for me. I had a really bad feeling at that moment. I was stressed and then … I wouldn’t think we could get here. 

Do you mostly think about these incidents and when? Do you think about them at specific times? 
I don’t have a specific time but sometimes yes. Sometimes that … well … hmm … I do think about it sometimes but not very much. 

What is your feeling when you think about it? 
Ah, when I think about it, I feel a little bit lonely. 

Does the situation you are faced today affect you? And how? 
Ah … affect … well it did not have an impact until now but as I said before, sometimes that I feel alone, I am always thinking of fighting with these problems or these … sometimes when I think about the past or the things that had happened to me on the sea, well, I always give the feeling to myself that “No, you can fight and never … hmmm … never give up.”

How could you overcome these problems? What mechanisms have you created to fight these problems? And where could you find support? 
Ah … I was not supported by my family or friends who would tell me to go through these hardships. No, it was always myself who had this feeling that I can overcome any problem. I have always given this ability to myself. 

What were your dreams before the incident that you left your country? 
Ah… my dream before coming to Europe was … my first dream … so generally … to continue my education and studies. And … I really … ah … like business. 

And what is your dream for the future? 
Ah, now my dream for my future … I am currently thinking of being able to continue my education but the situation is a bit harder for me here and the situation that I want to have is not yet provided. But well, I like to continue my education. As I said before, I really like to have a business. I mean trade activities and being able to do that.