Syrian refugee family adjusting to German life

Описание: (16 Oct 2015) After two weeks in Berlin and a month in the town of Heidenau, the Habashieh family from Syria are still waiting to file their asylum applications.
Reem, 19, Raghad, 11, Mohammed, 17, and Yaman, 15, along with their mother, 44-year-old Khawla Kareem, fled Syria's civil war and arrived in Germany last month after a perilous journey from Damascus.
They are yet to be called up for any of the asylum procedures, not even the initial health check.
In the meantime, a volunteer from nearby Dresden has befriended the family, helping them with practical matters such as getting warm blankets, juice and aspirin. He has also bought them German-language books.
More than anything, the family appreciates how Julius Roennebeck, who plays French horn at Dresden's famed Semper Opera house, has driven them to outings in Dresden and the nearby medieval town of Pirna.
Even though German authorities are hiring additional staff to speed up the procedures, there is a backlog and some experts estimate that it may take up to a year for Syrian refugees to receive asylum status.
In September alone, some 164,000 people were pre-registered as asylum seekers; for all of 2015 the German government is expecting about a million newcomers.
While Syrians will most certainly be allowed to stay in Germany, there is little they can do while waiting for a decision on their cases.
So the family gets up late in the morning at their reception centre in Heidenau, a small town in eastern Germany that made headlines in the summer when neo-Nazis rioted outside the centre to prevent refugees from moving in.
They are not allowed to work for their first three months in Germany, they are also not allowed to leave the county they are placed in, and sometimes schools are too far away for children to study there on a regular basis.
Unable to get much sleep in the packed reception centre and with an uncertain future, the family is anxious.
Reem has been shouldering much of the responsibility for the family since arriving in Germany, knocking on officials' doors every other week to make sure the family's papers havent' been lost, and talking to medical staff if one of them falls ill.
She rarely allows herself a weak moment, but she, too, is sinking under the strain.
Reem says he worst nightmare is seeing their application delayed indefinitely.
With Roennebeck's help, Reem is trying to fight back, looking to sign up for a newly established online university for refugees to study business.
The boys, Mohammed, who has grown a beard in recent weeks, and Yaman, who sleeps until noon to avoid dealing with the situation, have become demotivated and depressed.
Mohammed says he tries to keep busy and has attempted to learn some German but feels unable to do it properly right now.
"It's just psychological, I am not ready to learn German," he confesses.

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