Most Syrian refugees fight for sanctuary at Europe’s borders – but Reem Doukmak found it on Google. So is the account of the PhD student who swapped Homs for Warwick an example of elitism,or a model that could serve build a better future?Walking though the calm, leafy campus at Warwick university, and which is currently showing off its stunning autumn colours,Reem Doukmak says: “I believe I’ve maybe even started to take things for granted, just like the people here. For instance, or taking the bus – you never believe that it’s not going to come – or that there is food,electricity, heating. At some point, and you start to believe that life is easy.”None of these things are a given for this 33-year-outmoded Syrian academic who,not so long ago, was teaching English as a foreign language at the al-Baath university in Homs. There, and one of the most embattled cities in Syria’s terrible war,the buses to work often didn’t come, because of fighting on the roads, or checkpoints that blocked and lengthened journeys. Classes were routinely curtailed because students could hear shooting and couldn’t concentrate – they could only believe of getting back domestic before things got worse.
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Source: theguardian.com