- Title: German "godfathers" reunite Syrian families
- Date: 12th May 2016
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (RECENT - MAY 7, 2016) (REUTERS) BERLIN SCHOENEFELD AIRPORT AT NIGHT MONITOR SHOWING ARRIVALS FLOWERS RELATIVES WAITING FOR ARRIVING FRIENDS AND FAMILY VARIOUS OF MOHANNAD R. (SYRIAN LIVING IN GERMANY) WAITING FOR HIS BROTHER AND FATHER WHO ARE SPONSORED BY MARTIN FIGUR MOHANNAD R. WELCOMING HIS FATHER AND BROTHER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUGEE, FATHER OF MOHANNAD R. , SAYING: "Words are not enough to express our feelings. The feeling I have now is more than I can describe. If you are talking about my current feeling: when I met my son after such a long time, this is what you mean? It hard to describe, it's like when you close your eyes and dream." (SOUNDBITE) (German) SYRIAN LIVING IN GERMANY, MOHANNAD R., SAYING: "I am so happy that they have arrived here. They look exhausted, but healthy and breathing, and that is the most important thing." BERLIN, GERMANY (RECENT - MAY 9, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PRIVATE SPONSOR MARTIN FIGUR AND HIS DAUGHTER AND GIRLFRIEND OF MOHANNAD R. SITTING IN ROOM WITH SYRIAN REFUGEES AND MOHANNAD R. / SYRIAN REFUGEES PRESENTING GIFTS TO SPONSOR AND HIS WIFE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FATHER OF MOHANNAD R., SAYING: "I want to learn German, you might want to joke about that. I also know there is an organisation that helped me come here. I would also like to help until we are able to go back and rebuild our country." BOTH MEN SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) SYRIAN REFUGEE, SAYING: "He (Figur) helps people he doesn't know. This is not normal, in general. It is normal in humanity. Must be like this. But in general, (it is) not easy to guarantee and bring us to here and help us, and he doesn't know Rami or Mr Mohamad, my father. So, I learned from him really - I say the truth - I learned from him, to do this in the future, to help." FIGUR AND HIS DAUGHTER AND GIRLFRIEND OF MOHANNAD R. SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (German) PRIVATE SPONSOR, MARTIN FIGUR, SAYING: "We still have space in our house, so it would even have been possible to take the family in if it had not worked out with a flat. So, I don't think the financial burden on us was up for debate. We never thought we would take on a heavy responsibility." FIGUR WITH GIFTS (SOUNDBITE) (German) PRIVATE SPONSOR, MARTIN FIGUR, SAYING: "I can only encourage anybody to get in contact with refugees, in order just to realize that if you know a person well, you will handle the situation very differently." BERLIN, GERMANY (RECENT - MAY 10, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REFUGEES SETTLING INTO NEW ACCOMMODATION VARIOUS OF REFUGEES MAKING COFFEE BERLIN, GERMANY (RECENT - MAY 9, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FIGUR AND REFUGEES AT BRANDENBURG GATE
- Embargoed: 27th May 2016 12:18
- Keywords: Germany refugees sponsorship
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0014HI4XFR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: NAMES OF THE SYRIAN REFUGEES AND THEIR FAMILY MEMBER (EXCEPT MOHANNAD R.) CAN NOT BE NAMED AT THEIR OWN REQUEST
Three days after an emotional reunion with his younger son in Berlin, a 71-year-old Syrian handed a bar of olive oil and laurel soap, a hand-made wall hanging and a box of pistachio sweets to a 56-year-old German he had never met before.
The gifts were from Aleppo, the city devastated by five years of war which he and his elder son had been able to leave thanks to the German, engineer and father of four, Martin Figur.
Figur is one of the "Godfathers for Refugees", matched with the family by a non-profit organisation of the same name that seeks sponsors to help Syrians already in Germany to bring their relatives here.
"He (Figur) helps people he doesn't know. This is not normal, in general," Mohannad's brother said. He declined to give his name to protect relatives still living in the fiercely contested city.
Tight border controls across Europe, stricter asylum rules, and an EU-Turkey deal to clamp down on migrant sea crossings to Greece have left many Syrians in Germany struggling for ways to help relatives still in their homeland make it to safety.
The arrival of more than a million migrants into Germany last year prompted the German government to tighten asylum rules, including a two-year ban on family reunions for those granted limited refugee status, making the situation worse.
Martin Keune, the owner of an advertising agency, founded Godfathers for Refugees last year after two Syrian asylum seekers he was housing begged him to help them bring in their parents.
Keune was inspired by the story of his wife's Jewish uncle, who survived the Holocaust thanks to a British couple who adopted him while the rest of his family were sent from Berlin to the Nazi death camp in Krakow, Poland, where they perished.
At Berlin's Schoenefeld airport on Saturday, the Syrian father's younger son Mohannad, who has been in Germany since 2006, held back tears as he greeted his father and brother.
"Words are not enough to express our feelings. The feeling I have now is more than I can describe. If you are talking about my current feeling: when I met my son after such a long time, this is what you mean? It hard to describe, it's like when you close your eyes and dream," Mohannad's father told Reuters.
"I am so happy that they have arrived here. They look exhausted, but healthy and breathing, and that is the most important thing," his son added.
Mohannad, 36, came to Germany ten years ago on a cultural exchange programme and had been trying to reunite his family since 2012.
His net monthly salary at a Berlin-based charity for refugees is less than the minimum of 2,160 euros ($2,460.24) the authorities say a sponsor must earn to bring in just one family member. That is about the average net salary in Germany.
Since March 2015, the Godfathers' group has found sponsors for 103 Syrians, two-thirds of whom are already with family members in Berlin. The rest are waiting to receive two-year residency permits at German consulates in Lebanon and Turkey.
The association can only sponsor Syrians who have at least one close family member, such as a spouse, a child, a parent or a sibling, who has been in Germany for at least one year.
It relies on crowd funding and donations from its 2,200 members to raise the 800 euros a month it needs for each Syrian. This covers rent, health insurance, and a 400-euro stipend, equal to what the government pays unemployed Germans.
The godfathers do not fund the Syrian newcomers directly but take on legal liability for their living costs for five years even if in the meantime they apply for asylum and are granted full refugee status.
Figur signed a "Declaration of Commitment" at the Foreigners' Registration Office in Berlin accepting liability for Mohannad's father, brother as well his mother, who is still in Aleppo.
Germany took in some 1.1 million migrants last year, and of the more than 470,000 asylum applications filed over that period the largest group were Syrians, making up 35 percent.
The influx has fuelled the rise of the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which entered three state parliaments in elections in March by luring voters angry with Chancellor Angela Merkel's welcoming approach toward refugees.
"I can only encourage people to make contact with refugees, because only then will their attitudes change," said Figur, a Catholic, commending Merkel's courage in the refugee crisis.
A ceasefire in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and its main commercial centre before the war, has held since last week, making it easier for father and son to leave by land to Lebanon and on to Germany, a 20-hour journey.
They know they are lucky and hope mother, daughter and grandson - who have stayed behind at the wish of the son-in-law - will be able to join them soon in Berlin. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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