Her refugee parents named her after the chancellor

Little Angela wants to draw Merkel's steps when she grows up

Little Anguilla with her father.

From the source

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has left office, but she will not leave the conscience of the Syrian refugees to whom she opened the gates of her country in 2015 when a large wave of them poured into the country.

To commemorate the outgoing chancellor, a Syrian refugee family named their daughter "Anguilla", after allowing her to reside in the country and providing them with a decent livelihood.

At the end of 2015, the Syrian refugee couple were;

Wedad and Muhammad, on an appointment with a gynecologist in Germany.

The couple and their three children had fled Latakia, traveling first by car and then on foot.

During the trip, Wedad was pregnant with her daughter, Angela.

After looking at the ultrasound images, the doctors congratulated the couple that a girl was on the way.

Wedad and Muhammad did not have to think long about the name they would give their daughter by, and called her "Anguilla".

Everyone loves Anguilla

Six years later, this little girl with long, dark hair appeared at the Caritas refugee counseling center in the western city of Gelsenkirchen, where her father works, and was greeted with joy by everyone.

And they called her "Angie", and she was smiling at them and responding to the greeting.

"Everyone loves our daughter Angela, even the older women in our area are always happy to see her," said her father, Mohamed. "We love Angela Merkel for what she has done for us."

"While other countries closed their doors to us, Merkel gave us a new life, especially the children here," Mohammed said. "All our Syrian friends are sad that Merkel has left her post now, and my mother in Syria always tells me on the phone that she is very sad about that, what is her fate now?" ?»

Little Angela is currently in kindergarten, but she will be accompanying her three older siblings to school next August.

She loves telling stories, drawing, loves flowers, and has twice been to the soccer field to cheer for her local team.

She says that when she grows up she wants to "do something like Angela Merkel, which is to help others."

This young Syrian girl was born at a time when Germany was undergoing a drastic change.

In neighboring Cologne, an influx of applications for gun licenses was reported, shortly after groups of men, some of non-German origin, sexually assaulted hundreds of women on New Year's Eve.

merger

But young Anguilla's life may well reflect how many of the refugees who arrived in 2015 are generally integrated into society, with children speaking fluent German, having German friends and getting good grades in school.

But on the other hand, their parents are still struggling to find a foothold in their newly settled country, where Mohammed wants to open an office soon, and his wife, who was a teacher in Syria, wants to work as a kindergarten teacher.

According to statistics from the German Employment Research Institute, only half of the refugees who arrived in 2015 had a job.

Now Mohamed works as a lawyer at Caritas Refugee Counseling Service, responsible for everything related to residency rights.

The family has a residence permit.

And within three years they want to apply for German citizenship.

• Young Anguilla's life reflects how many of the refugees who arrived in 2015 are integrated into the community, where children speak German fluently, have German friends, and get good grades in school.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news