In Tirana there are already hundreds of citizens leaving Middle Eastern countries. Some have arrived as war refugees, some just as immigrants. They can be found in various areas of the capital, and some of them have opened businesses.
Salem is from Palestine, while his wife, Nivin, comes from Damask, Syria. They knew each other in Lebanon, where they had moved to work. They got married one year later and moved to Tirana, where they have opened a café.
“I was married here, we had a boy and now he is Albanian. Palestine and Syria are just names. We are all people, we are the same”, says Nivin Alabd Yousef.
“My brother lives in Germany, but he went there the wrong way. I didn’t want it to be like that. I came here and I only paid 40 Euros for a visa. It is a good country. If I didn’t like it I wouldn’t be staying here”, he says.
In Albania they have opened a café. However, life is not easy.
“I pay rent for the café and for the house. It is hard. There’s nothing left by the end of the month”, Yousef says.
He doesn’t forget Palestine. Although his son was born in Albania, they keep talking to him about the homeland.
However, Albania is their home and they are looking forward to get the Albanian passport.
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