Loay Lahham still vividly remembers the moment he decided to flee Syria. It was October 2014 when his friend and classmate was fatally struck by a bomb on his way to church – the same church that Mr. Lahham attended back then. He was 21 at the time. “It was clear to me then that I had to get out of there,” he says.

Many things have changed since then. Now, six years later, he is a German citizen and has a pharmacy degree under his belt. He also found a job and has made many friends in his new home.

Mr. Lahham has worked hard for his success. After fleeing Syria in 2015, he initially went to stay with his cousin in France and hoped to quickly resume his pharmacy studies. The native Syrian had already studied for three years in Damascus and, according to him, was at the top of his class. Since he had difficulty getting his straight-A high school diploma recognized in France, he headed to Germany. At that time, he spoke no German and had no contacts here.

In Search of the Right Spot in Germany

“Times were really tough without friends. I was new in the city and missed my home,” explains Mr. Lahham. He took a one-year language course in Hückelhoven and Duisburg located in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He found friends at a church he attended and was actively involved in a scouts’ group. After completing the language course, he applied for pharmacy school in the spring of 2016. He was first accepted to the University of Marburg and moved to the city located on the Lahn River. However, after just a few days, he realized that the city was too small and that he wanted to live in Germany’s biggest city, Berlin. After receiving an admission notice from Freie Universität, his new life began.

He commenced his pharmacy studies in the fall of 2016 at Freie Universität located in the southwestern part of the capital. “Of course, it was entirely in German, which was hard. Pharmacy is not an easy subject, not even for native speakers. At the beginning, I could only understand about half of what was said during the lectures,” he says. With support from his classmates, who partially translated the lectures into English and answered questions, each semester gradually became easier for him.

He received a “Welcome” scholarship from the Deutsche Universitätsstiftung (German University Foundation) and volunteered in the church’s social welfare program as an interpreter, which allowed him to help other refugees upon their arrival in Germany. He lived in a student dorm provided by studierendenWERK Berlin, where he also worked as a tutor from 2017 onwards and helped other refugees and new students in Berlin with bureaucratic matters and doctor’s appointments. “Those were great times. I was able to help others, and everyone in the dorm knew me because I also organized events and game nights there,” he says about his dorm years. During our conversation he seems happy and relaxed. His smile is contagious, and it’s easy to see how he could turn strangers into friends. Helping others goes without saying for Mr. Lahham, who wanted to give something back. “I was fortunate to be surrounded by people who helped me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to do it,” he says.

A Huge Effort That Paid Off

Mr. Lahham received German citizenship in the summer of this year. For him, it was a very special moment. “An employee at the government office responsible for issuing citizenship said that I was a prime example of successful integration. That made me proud.”

To complete the required yearlong internship for his pharmacy degree, he worked at a pharmacy and at Johnson & Johnson in North Rhine-Westphalia, where he also landed a job after finishing his degree. “Working while also preparing for the final exam was incredibly demanding.” But his efforts paid off, and he passed the third state examination at Freie Universität in July 2021.

Mr. Lahham and his friends took a trip to Spain to celebrate the end of their university studies. The day after the exam, he posted an article on LinkedIn: “I can say it out loud: I DID IT!” More than 10,000 people liked the post in which he spoke about his success in an initially foreign country. The post received almost 500 comments by the platform’s users, who congratulated him and celebrated his achievement. He didn’t expect so much attention. “I’m thankful to Germany and to everyone who helped me on my path!”

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This text originally appeared in German on October 2, 2021, in the Tagesspiegel newspaper supplement published by Freie Universität Berlin.