He had a good life in Shiraz. One problem: he is a Christian.
Salman (37) from Iran calls himself ‘easy-going’, quite true. He is calm among all the hubbub of 300 people, paints signs for the school and teaches art classes.
A brother and sister are in Germany, he wants to join them.
He had a good life in Shiraz, had 2 cars, he made LED signs and billboards. The family had two gardens, a large (1000 sqm) and a small one for all their fruit and vegetables. One problem: he is a Christian. He kept his Christianity very low-profile. But then his brother and sister opened a Christian school. One day they had a family garden party. When he returned from an errant, police was everywhere – so he ran to his mother’s house to warn her. Salman returned to the garden and found his brother arrested.
At his release his brother was told next time he would be killed.
Then the police confiscated the larger garden and looked for his brother and sister.
So the three left almost instantly. Salman helped them hide in northern Iran near the Azerbaijan-Turkish border before his siblings escaped. Salman wanted to stay in his country and hid for 8 months in the northern town of Urmia. But he detested his secret life. In Shiraz the family all lived near each other and visited every day. Now he was alone.
"I miss family dinners at my Mother's orchard."
Once he made up his mind to flee it only took him 4 days: 1 day to the border, 1 day to Istanbul, then to Behram on the coast across from Lesbos.
He arrived at night and went straight on a boat, about 9m long, crowded with 70 people. At night the Greek lights seemed so near.
When he saw the distance the next day he was so scared. “If I had seen the distance from Turkey I would not have dared to go on that boat.” That was in August 2016.
He has now been in the Moria camp for 11 months + spent the winter in a tent. But knowing electricity from his sign-making, he bought a heater, wired and heated his tent. When his artistic skills are not needed for sign-making he makes beautiful watercolors and lettering to help him keep his calm and inner balance in the chaos of Moria.
November 2017 update: Salman seems to have made it past the first asylum hurdle - I could not quite understand the fb message, but he is still on Lesbos for now.
November 2018 update: Salman has asylum and has moved to Athens. He may try to open an art school, but first will visit his brother in Germany who he has not seen in 3 years.