Bringing Hamid to Sweden
We’ve just played overnight hosts to Dan Biswas, a Danish man working for a Danish-Greek NGO, Faros, that supports unaccompanied refugee children and teenagers in Athens. Dan flew to Stockholm yesterday with Hamid, a 13 year old Afghan boy who has spent the last year on his own in Athens. His mother and younger brother, already in Gothenburg and in the process of seeking asylum in Sweden, travelled up to Arlanda airport to be reunited with Hamid.
It was a real pleasure to have Dan stay and learn more about the inspiring and important work they’re doing with mostly Syrian and Afghan refugee children and teenagers. For more information on Faros’ work see www.faros.org.gr. They also have an up to date Facebook page.
 Earlier today we accompanied Hamid, a 13-year old Afghan boy, to Stockholm where he was reunited with his mother after being alone in Athens for one year. When we first met Hamid, about a year ago, he was living in a warehouse where he was also working. At this point his mother was in Sweden where she had applied for asylum. In collaboration with another organization Hamid was placed in a safe shelter for unaccompanied minors, while his legal case for family reunification was being processed. In the meantime he was coming regularly to the Faros drop-in center, where he also received Swedish lessons. Hamid and his mother were so very happy to see each other again today after a long period of separation. We are very happy for Hamid and wish him all the best for his new life in Sweden, and hope to meet again in the future. We and Hamid are also very thankful to the individuals that sponsored the costs of the air tickets, and made an early family reunification possible. |