REYKJAVIK // it’s cold and snowy and nothing like their home town, Damascus, but for the Naser family, the Arctic climate is a small price to pay for security.
With 330,000 inhabitants surrounded by volcanoes, glaciers and geysers, Iceland is not an obvious destination for refugees fleeing war in Syria. But since 2015, 118 Syrians have found hope for a peaceful life in the Nordic nation.
Many of them lived in Lebanon for several years before coming to the land of ice and fire, sent by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Most have settled in or around the capital, Reykjavik, while others are beginning their new lives in Akureyri in the north of the country, 70 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle.
Akureyri is where Joumaa Naser, his wife and their five children now call home.
The state finances their rent for one year and pays them an allowance for daily expenses. The Red Cross meanwhile finances Icelandic language classes and cultural courses.In fact, learning Icelandic is more of a challenge than the harsh climate for Mr Naser.
“We’re able to adapt to any conditions here, whether they’re easy or difficult, we can live with them,” he said. “It’s only the language that is a bit complicated. We need time to become fully adapted.”
His children are adapting to their homeland more quickly.
“I like Iceland because it’s very nice and there are very nice people. Here we like the snow because in Syria, maybe you’ll see the snow but maybe not,” said his son, Amjad, throwing himself down in the snow to make his point.
Mustafa and Basma live on the other side of the North Atlantic island, in a residential suburb of Reykjavik. Their moden two-bedroomed
In their modern and soberly decorated two-room apartment of 538 square feet, located just a stone’s throw from the ocean, the couple enjoy their newfound security, far from the chaos of Latakia, the Mediterranean port city in Syria which they fled.
“They (Icelanders) welcomed us in a very nice way,” says 30-year-old Mustafa Akra, thin glasses perched on his nose and a cap on his head.
Mustafa says some people he has met in Iceland are “racist”, but fewer than in other countries.
Support for the anti-immigration Icelandic National Front, founded in early 2016 when the first Syrian refugees began arriving, remains minimal.
The party garnered only 0.2 per cent of votes in October’s snap election. And according to a survey carried out for Amnesty International in September, more than 85 per cent of Icelanders want to take in more refugees.
“People are shy to advertise their opposition against refugees. It’s not a popular view here,” says Linda Blondal, the Syrian couple’s neighbour who is helping them integrate into Icelandic society.
The couple knew little or nothing about their new home before coming.
“We had never heard of Iceland before arriving here. We barely knew where it was!”, explains Basma, who wears a hijab.
Mustafa, a strapping man willing to work hard, ended up finding a job. But it wasn’t easy - he speaks neither Icelandic nor English.
In Syria he worked as a taxi driver, a car mechanic, a cook, a house painter and an electrician. He now works for Ali Baba, a Middle Eastern restaurant in the centre of Reykjavik.
The family is set to grow, as Basma is expected to give birth to their first child, a boy, in the coming weeks.
“I’m proud that he will be born in Iceland, as safe as possible in a beautiful country,” the 28-year-old mum-to-be says.
Iceland registered 791 asylum applications last year, mostly from Balkan countries.
Only 100 have been granted refugee status, including 25 Iraqis, 17 Syrians and 14 Iranians.
A year ago, then-prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson welcomed the first six Syrian refugee families at Reykjavik airport.
And on Monday, president Gudni Johannesson received another five refugees at his official residence.
* Agence France-Presse
