Sharif’s story

My name is Sharif and I am a refugee on the island of Lesvos in Greece. I arrived on the island on the 26th of July 2018. Since then I have lived in Moria, which is a refugee camp here on Lesvos where life is very difficult.

I am very proud that I have managed to achieve important milestones, in four months thanks to the help of the Boat Refugee Foundation I was able to learn English. It was also very important for me to learn Greek so I spent 3 months in classes at the Mosaik Centre in Mitilini. It was extremely difficult to find classes teaching a better level of English as I had already completed all of the available certifications.

Fortunately, I met Jure Poglajen, he is a dentist from Slovenia whom I became close friends with. He knew how important it was for me to continue learning both Greek and English. He decided to help me by funding a place for me at OpenSpace and my bus tickets to be able come as often as possible, this enabled me to have access to a computer and to online Greek and English lessons. I have been coming to OpenSpace every day that I am able to, and I love OpenSpace, it allowed me to have a unique opportunity to continue learning.

Now thanks to my time here I will be able to register at Mosaik Centre again for the second Greek class. I am now also able to attend the Greek classes at the One Happy Family Centre.

One day I hope to be able to become a translator, as soon as I will also be able to speak English and Greek fluently, the same way I speak Farsi and Dari. This dream of becoming a translator is important to me as I know how hard it is not to be understood and not to understand others. I know that I can use my joy, patience and love of languages to help others around me. None of this would have been possible without the help and guidance of my friend Jure and the opportunity to attend OpenSpace.

I hope you will consider helping give this opportunity to others who like me are eager to learn and integrate here in Greece. As for only 60 euros you can guarantee a young person better access to success for a month, including their computer access, bus travel and refreshments.