The first years of Mevan Babakar's life were anything but a normal childhood. He was born in 1990 in Baghdad, Iraq , on the cusp of the Gulf War and until he was six years old he lived as a refugee, pilgrimage from one country to another. But Mevan kept a memory of his diaspora that, several decades later, still smiled at him: a man who worked in a refugee camp where she lived gave him a bicycle . Without knowing his name and without having any other clue of him more than an old photograph, the young woman proposed 24 years later the difficult task of discovering his identity . And 24 hours have been enough for the purpose to be fulfilled with the help of the Internet.

In less than a day I not only had his name, but I was going to meet him

"I really just wanted to know his name, I didn't intend to know him," says Mevan, 29, in a conversation with THE WORLD. "But everything went so fast that in less than a day he not only had his name, but was driving home to meet him in person," he recalls. The man, whose name is Egbert , worked for a refugee camp in Zwolle , in the Netherlands , where she lived with her family for a year. A few hours after sharing his publication, the digital swarm of the networks made his own and after almost 9,000 retweets and hundreds of comments, they found the man.

"Before seeing him I felt a mixture between emotion and nerves. But when he received me, I felt absolutely comfortable and confident, it was like meeting a relative again, " says the young woman, who points out that the meeting, which took place in Germany, surpassed Your expectations.

A childhood with "terrible and wonderful moments"

Maven, who has lived in London since he was six, remembers his childhood as a difficult stage tinged with bittersweet moments: "It was a jumble of terrible and wonderful moments at the same time . " One of them, who has been tattooed in his memory, was when they gave him the bicycle. "At that time, the gift seemed too big for me. When you grow up as a refugee you don't have many toys or belongings. Suddenly I had this bike and I felt I didn't deserve it, " he says.

That gesture made me think that perhaps, if it was worth enough to have a bicycle, it also deserved a better life

Those little signs of affection or attention - he insists - can make a difference for one person: "I think my story has resonated so much because we all at some time have received an act of affection by chance and, however small, marks you life . "

"A small gesture, whether you are a refugee or not, can make you feel special and valued, " says Maven, who has taken a sabbatical year to travel. The young woman, who passed through Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia and the Netherlands before settling in Britain, says that at that moment of uncertainty in her life, the gift made her " explode the heart of happiness ."

"That gesture made me think that perhaps, if it was worth enough to have a bicycle, it also deserved a better life. It had a much greater impact on my life, because it was not just the physical gift, it gave me hope, " he recalls. "I think that's why the story stayed with me so long and I still felt the need to follow up," he says. The young woman has found a goal to share and spread her story: to perpetuate the chain of kind gestures.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Refugees
  • Germany
  • Holland
  • immigration

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