Meet Abu Nabaa
‘I never lost hope- I’m always optimistic.
Thamir Jasim Mohammed is 38, but he looks much older: the past decade has been almost impossibly hard on him. Thamir’s home is in Diyala province, Iraq, but in 2010 he fled to Syria with his wife and three children to escape sectarian violence.
In Syria, Thamir applied for asylum in Canada, but the process was disrupted by the Syrian Civil War: he lost his infant son to meningitis during this period. He moved to Turkey, where his kidneys started to fail. Exhausted by constant rounds of dialysis, Thamir decided to seek medical asylum in Greece. Despite Thamir’s stage five kidney failure, his request was rejected twice.
Thamir has now been fighting a desperate struggle to stay in Europe for more than three years. He lives on 150 euros a month in a small, insect-infested house in Athens with six other people. Years of trauma and isolation has left Thamir battling suicidal thoughts, while undergoing dialysis often leaves him too exhausted to do anything.
His wife and two daughters now live in Bosnia, and Thamir’s only desire is to reunite with them. Thamir often visits the metro, wishing desperately that the family he dreams of will walk through the door- but as his health degenerates, he fears he may never see them again. On the 13th July, Thamir received an official eviction notice, and he is on the verge of being deported back to Iraq.
Thamir is saying that he is optimistic that there are people will listen to me and take my case on board. Because if humanity ends- that’s it, we’re finished.’
Yem supported Thamir for over 3 years with monthly salary until he reached his final destination and reunited with his wife and daughters.
