Turning Chance into Success – The Story of an Afghan Refugee in Bulgaria [1]

Bulgaria is his home. Because here he breathes freely. Because here he dreams of a future.

He is 23 years old. His name will remain anonymous. The Taliban killed his father, and his family is still in Afghanistan.

His journey is like that of almost every refugee, but his story is different.

He arrived in Bulgaria about a year and a half ago, after spending several months in Turkey. He knows the rules well, is registered with the Bulgarian authorities, and has heard of the Dublin Regulation [2]. The first months are difficult – accommodation centers, procedures, and the constantly changing faces of people in a hurry to move to another European country. He chooses to stay – not to live elsewhere later, but to live here and now.

Thanks to the Foundation for Access to Rights – FAR, he quickly found a job. Today, he works for one of our partners, a leader in its field, and his employers cite him as an example.

In recent months, he has visited many Bulgarian cities where the company has sites. Of them all, he likes Kazanlak the most – because of its people, who, as he walks down the streets, make him feel like one of them. The faces around him no longer change so quickly. His colleagues have become friends. On weekends, they go out together to walk and eat that thing with cheese and yellow cheese (kashkaval), which he still doesn’t know the name of, but is his favorite food.

What’s the formula for his success? Every morning, he goes to work with a smile, greets his colleagues, and tells them a joke. He believes that to be respected, you must show respect; to be treated kindly, you must be kind. And you must work hard.

He dreams of saving money and starting his own business. To learn more about Bulgaria and Bulgarians, and to contribute to the development of the society that welcomed him.

To other refugees, he wants to say: don’t believe that money grows on trees in Europe. Don’t be in a hurry to leave – work hard. No one knows what lies ahead in life, so it’s important to be happy here and now.

Today, greet your colleagues with a smile and tell them a joke. And remember – the formula is to be kind to others so we can be surrounded by kind people.

[1] We are sharing this true story of a refugee who started working in Bulgaria through the employment mediation of FAR as part of our “Success Stories” campaign, under the project "Access to Employment for Refugees and Migrants", implemented with the financial support of the Bulgarian Fund for Women and the European Union.
The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Bulgarian Fund for Women, the European Union, or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency. Neither the BFW, the EU, nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

[2] The so-called Dublin Regulation (No. 604/2013) governs the allocation of asylum applications among the member states of the European Union.