Due to privacy reasons the names or personal details of these refugee's are not given
Refugee 1, BangladeshA blog writer who travelled all the way from Bangladesh to the Netherlands 9 months ago is currently staying in the Koepel Gevangenis of Haarlem. He came to the Netherlands in the beginning of the year fleeing from Bangladesh due to the fact that he had several people who were after him. He was forced to flee from Bangladesh and come to a safer country. Coming from a wealthy family he was able to bear the costs of a flight to the Netherlands and he had several meetings with the Dutch Parliament. Amnesty International and 12 other organizations wrote a reference letter to the Dutch Goverment. This is also why he was able to get a residence permit within one month. In Bangladesh he had graduated from a Masters Degree and he had a job in a local bank there. In the Netherlands he has found a part-time job in a local restaurant. In November he will be moving out of the refugee camp to a student house in Bloemendaal. He is striving to continue his study however currently he is doing a computer language course in Amsterdam.
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Refugee 2, AfghanistanA normal civilian who has traveled 5270km from Afghanistan just to have a safe living condition. He traveled to the Netherlands by walking, hitchhiking, sea and much more for over two months and currently he is staying at the Koepel Gevangenis in Haarlem. He has been in The Netherlands for approximately one year and he is extremely disappointed by the service he has received. He feels like he is being treated like a criminal and he has been put in a jail, the freedom that he was looking for has yet not been found. He had to leave behind his whole family in Afghanistan due to financial issues and the dangerous traveling route. After a year he still hasn't gotten permission to stay in the Netherlands and he is slowly loosing his patience...
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Refugee 3, Eritrea
Eritrea is a country located in the Horn of Africa. The country is being ruled by Dictatorship and everyone from 18 years onward has to go to the army. There is no free speech at all and that is also the main reason on why he left the country.
He traveled more than 5000km from Eritrea to Netherlands. He started off his journey by walking to Sudan, then he hitchhiked to the coast of Libya. At the coast of Libya he took a boat to Italy (Europe). It was an extremely small fishing boat however there were approximately 400-500 people present which is way more than it's capacity. He told me that it was one of his worst experiences ever. After 18 hours of staying on the boat they finally reached the coast of Italy (Sicily). From Sicily he took a bus to Milan and finally from Milan he took a train to the Netherlands. In the Netherlands he went to a police station in Amersfoort and from their they told him to go to Ter Apel. Once he had done his registration and asked for Asylum he was transferred to a refugee camp in Den Helder and 2 months later he finally came to The Koepel Gevangenis. When traveling to the Netherlands he had extremely limited money and therefore he had to be very economical on what to spend it on.
Now he has been in The Netherlands for almost 1 year and he has received his residence permit. He was very happy that he chose to come to the Netherlands as the situation is way better than Eritrea. Unfortunately he is not able to contact his family back in Eritrea as the connection in the country is not very good. He has been learning Dutch since he came to The Netherlands to keep himself busy and recently he has passed his A2 exam.
Unfortunately this refugee didn't want any pictures taken and therefore we don't have a portrait photo.
He traveled more than 5000km from Eritrea to Netherlands. He started off his journey by walking to Sudan, then he hitchhiked to the coast of Libya. At the coast of Libya he took a boat to Italy (Europe). It was an extremely small fishing boat however there were approximately 400-500 people present which is way more than it's capacity. He told me that it was one of his worst experiences ever. After 18 hours of staying on the boat they finally reached the coast of Italy (Sicily). From Sicily he took a bus to Milan and finally from Milan he took a train to the Netherlands. In the Netherlands he went to a police station in Amersfoort and from their they told him to go to Ter Apel. Once he had done his registration and asked for Asylum he was transferred to a refugee camp in Den Helder and 2 months later he finally came to The Koepel Gevangenis. When traveling to the Netherlands he had extremely limited money and therefore he had to be very economical on what to spend it on.
Now he has been in The Netherlands for almost 1 year and he has received his residence permit. He was very happy that he chose to come to the Netherlands as the situation is way better than Eritrea. Unfortunately he is not able to contact his family back in Eritrea as the connection in the country is not very good. He has been learning Dutch since he came to The Netherlands to keep himself busy and recently he has passed his A2 exam.
Unfortunately this refugee didn't want any pictures taken and therefore we don't have a portrait photo.