The wind blows in icy gusts and the rain gently melts the snow: welcome to Iceland. Far from their hometown Damascus, Joumaa Naser and his family do not mind the Arctic cold, they are just happy to be living in safety.
With 330,000 inhabitants surrounded by volcanoes, glaciers and geysers, Iceland is an unusual destination for refugees fleeing war in Syria. However, since 2015, 118 Syrians have found hope for a new and tranquil life in the Nordic nation.
Many of them lived in Lebanon for several years before coming to the land of ice and fire, sent by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Most of them have settled in the capital, Reykjavik, and its surroundings, while others are beginning their new lives in Akureyri in the north of the country, 70km south of the Arctic Circle.
Akureyri is where Naser, his wife and their five children now call home.
The state finances their rent for one year and pays them an allowance for daily expenses. Meanwhile, the Red Cross finances Icelandic language classes and cultural courses.
Speaking Icelandic is the main obstacle for Naser, sporting a finely trimmed mustache and bundled up in a down jacket, his words translated by an interpreter.
Does the harsh Nordic climate bother him? Not so much.
“We’re able to adapt to any conditions here, whether they’re easy or difficult, we can live with them,” he told reporters. “It’s only the language that is a bit complicated. We need time to become fully adapted.”
However, Naser’s children, including his son Amjad, are picking up the language faster. Making friends and playing local sports, such as soccer, have helped them adapt to their new homeland.
“I like Iceland because it’s very nice and there are very nice people. Here we like the snow, because in Syria, maybe you’ll see the snow, but maybe not,” Amjad said with a laugh as he threw himself down to make a snow angel.
On the other side of the North Atlantic island, in a residential suburb of Reykjavik, live Mustafa and Basma Akra. In their modern and soberly decorated 50m2 two-room apartment, just a stone’s throw from the ocean, the couple enjoy their newfound security, far from the chaos of Latakia, the Mediterranean port city in Syria that they fled.
“They [Icelanders] welcomed us in a very nice way,” said 30-year-old Mustafa Akra, thin glasses perched on his nose and a cap on his head.
The couple knew little or nothing about their new home before arriving.
“We had never heard of Iceland before arriving here. We barely knew where it was,” said Basma Akra, who wears a hijab.
Mustafa Akra, a strapping man willing to work hard, ended up finding a job, but it was not easy — he speaks neither Icelandic nor English.
In Syria he worked as a taxi driver, a car mechanic, a cook, a house painter and an electrician. He now works for Ali Baba, a Middle Eastern restaurant in the center of Reykjavik.
The family is set to grow, as Basma Akra is expected to give birth to their first child, a boy, in the coming weeks.
“I’m proud that he will be born in Iceland, as safe as possible in a beautiful country,” the 28-year-old mother-to-be said.
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