Love gave him a new home and family name

A Syrian refugee returns favor to Germany by feeding the homeless

  • Alex and Claudia love at first sight. D.A.

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Five years ago, a Syrian refugee arrived in Berlin, and received public attention on the Internet, when he was seen distributing soup for free there to the homeless, but it seems that the story did not stop there, most likely this event was a turning point in the life of Syrian Alex Assali ( 44 years old), the step exceeded his asylum to Berlin.

The German Claudia Lonnie (52 years old) is the one who has the greatest influence on Alex, as she saw him on the Internet announcing his search for someone who wanted to help by cutting vegetables for a cooking campaign for the homeless, but Claudia simply did not want to go to the house of a strange man Therefore, I preferred to meet the Syrian for the first time in a café in the Neukölln district of the German capital. The conversation between the two lasted for hours, it was love at first sight. "It was really a totally emotional meeting," Claudia says, and since their meeting in the cafe two years ago, Alex has not separated from Claudia, who took on her family title after marrying her, Alex says: "Claudia is my homeland."

Today, August 31, five years have passed since Angela Merkel said the most important phrase in her history as an advisor - in light of the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees: "We can do it." A lot has happened since then, as Germany changed and the tone became tougher, and among the many beautiful and ugly stories in the life of refugees in Germany, Alex and Claudia Lonnie represent one of these beautiful stories, which takes place in a Berlin house in a winter garden with their cat "Ramon" .

German-Syrian marriages, similar to what happened in the Lonnie family, are rather rare, but they are increasing: in 2011 there were 136 German women married to Syrians, and the number rose to 429 Germans in 2018, according to the data of the Federal Statistical Office. The number of those married to Syrian women is much lower, as it reached 85 Germans in 2011, and increased to 154 Germans in 2018.

It might be interesting to look at these numbers again over the next few years, as families in Germany are likely to become more diverse and cosmopolitan.

Often, volunteer work in distributing clothes, preparing meals for the homeless, and classes for learning the German language are common opportunities for acquaintance. The association “Moabit Helps” Berlin knows this well, as it is said there quite realistically: “This happens to us periodically.” There, when she meets others, the first thing she ignores is nationality. Three years ago, the first child was born from a romantic relationship under the umbrella of "Moabit Helps".

Alex came to Germany before the great wave of asylum from his countrymen in October 2014, and Alex recounts that he grew up in a Syrian political family, knows the meaning of terror and terror, and he was imprisoned in Libya, and he swam for hours in the sea off the Italian coast when the refugee boat in which he was on board crashed After a perilous journey, he made his way to Germany.

On his first day in Berlin, a strange woman at the train station helped him find shelter, and she ate with him the first meal of curry sausage he had eaten in Germany, and gave him 50 euros, and the next day two students went to the reception desk of his hotel to meet him, where they heard that there was a refugee. They wanted to help, and such encounters had a great impact on shaping Alex's life in Germany. "Gradually, I got to know more people," Alex says.

Desiring to return the favor to Germany, Alex decided to buy food ingredients from his money and distribute it to the homeless, this is how one of the local magazines in the city talked about him, and a friend published a picture of the event on the Internet, it achieved tremendous popularity, and then Alex received 1000 letters on his mailbox, Alex says They laughed: "I was completely in shock."

Alex received a tribute from the local government of the state of Berlin and was invited to meet the German President, and during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace, last year, a TV station interviewed him, and then he stood in front of the camera with his wife embodying the word (love) (love) in their hands. "We always do this," Claudia says. Indeed, both of them drew a tattoo expressing love, an uncharacteristic behavior by Claudia that raised the astonishment of her 27-year-old daughter, who was her mother's maid during the marriage.

"Cook better"

When the couple tells their story, the listener will not find any trace of their nationalities or cultural or religious differences, so what then separates Alex from a German man? Claudia does not think of a quick answer, but she said in the end: “He cooks better.” Because of Corona, the charitable feeding campaign for the homeless in which Claudia cuts vegetables and Alex prepares soup has stopped, but they intend to resume it as soon as conditions allow, Alex, an IT technician, and his accountant wife, run this campaign every Saturday in their spare time. In the past, dishes served to the homeless were purely Syrian, but now meals include traditional German lentil soup.

Since they met, two years ago, Alex has not separated from Claudia, whose surname after marriage.

Alex received a tribute from the local government of Berlin, and was invited to meet with the German President.

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