My name is Navid Gaderian. I'm from Iran. I'm 22 years old and I've been in Austria for two years now, almost two years. I'm a freelance trainer in SOS Menschenrechte and mostly what I do is I do workshops in Austrian schools and various institutions. And I also do some workshops for other refugees, since I know their mother language, like Kurdish or Persian. And yeah, that's basically what I do. I was a medicine student back in Iran, but as I was suspended, I couldn't pursue my studies any further. Here, I'm studying artificial intelligence and I'm enrolled in a bachelor's bachelor studies program. I was suspended due to my political activities which the university considered inappropriate behavior and it all started with the woman life freedom movement. That's when there were a lot of demonstrations and protests going on all over the country in Iran. And as I was studying in Tehran, that's where most of the action was going on anyway. And we did a lot of demonstrations and protests. And I was one of those that was trying to organize demonstrations where I was actively participating in them. And organize demonstrations where I was actively participating in them and that was what led to my suspension eventually. After my suspension and after that one of my close friends that was also very active in the demonstrations was caught by the regime, I realized that my life is in danger and that I should leave the country as early or as soon as possible. And that's what I did. When I first arrived in Austria, it was around December. So it was really nice because the Christmas atmosphere combined with the feelings of hope and excitement that I had myself because I was finally able to come out of the situation that I was so frightened by. So it was really beautiful. That month specifically is still one of my nicest memories, I would say. The strongest feelings that I had in the beginning, I would say were feelings of hope and excitement. After my suspension, I felt like I've been robbed of everything that I had tried so hard to get to for so many years. And in the end, after getting here, I felt like finally I'm free. Finally, I can again do what I want and actually pursue my dreams here. This is one of the most memorable pictures that I have. It's my last picture with my father. We took this in a very normal setting. We were going to shopping together. And it's interesting to me because I still remember it and I think I will never forget what he said to me when we took the picture because I'm not a picture guy I don't really take photos but he said let's take a picture because we don't know when we're gonna see each other or if we will ever see each other again. And if you if you pay attention to the picture, you I think you can feel the sadness in his eyes when when we took the picture. And this resembles, in a sense, the feeling of loss and grief that every single refugee goes through in his life. The most difficult challenge that I faced in the beginning for me was feelings of isolation because I wasn't working. I really tried hard to to get to work as soon as possible but I couldn't. After that and as I was not studying either for the first year when I was here it was really difficult for me because basically I was not doing anything and it was a really I would say kafkaist situation just waiting for something to happen this feeling of suspension when you don't know what's going to become of your future and at the same time when you've kind of lost all your social network just by in in a course of probably two days And suddenly you wake up and you see that you kind of know nobody. There's nobody to reach out to. And this feeling of isolation and loneliness when you don't really have much to look out for, that was something that really was challenging to me. But the way that I overcame it, I think, was just by trying as hard as possible to somehow get to do something as soon as possible. And in the end, when I got admitted into the university and then I found a job, then I guess those feelings were gone already. I didn't really feel any prejudice towards where I come from or my identity or race. I don't know if it has to do with the environments that I've normally been in because I'm either in university, which I would say is a more progressive environment, or I'm in mostly in as was mentioned Reista which is also a human rights organization and I would say I've never felt any feelings of discrimination or prejudice. The differences that I recognized immediately between Iran and Austria when I came here first Iran and Austria when I came here first were mainly, I would say culturally it was the rule of law that people really respect law more than Iranian people are used to. And also that women are really more free here. In a sense, I felt like Iran, especially even for me, and especially for women, is like an open prison. And that's something that I recognized immediately after coming here. Although I feel, at least from my experience, Austrians seem to be really generally nice people. Austrians seem to be really generally nice people. But I feel like in general, the countries in the Middle East and Iran as well are just more friendly. And they kind of are more naturally tending towards helping people out and, I don't know, giving them free food and inviting them over and stuff like that, which you don't see as usually in the West in general. And that's something that maybe the Europeans could learn in general. Something that really surprised me and at times was really funny to me was that I realized that Austrians are way more direct than I as an Iranian am used to. For example, when people call each other, normally they don't really greet each other. It's not like you would ask how they really are and how their, I don't know, parents and siblings are, which is kind of the norm in my country. So it was funny to me that whenever I was calling my boss, It was funny to me that whenever I was calling my boss, I always felt the urge to greet them, which was really strange because he didn't expect it as he's from a different culture and this was something that was really funny to me. Do I feel that I'm part of the society? I would say so in a sense. I don't think I'm as part of the Austrian society as an Austrian would be. But I do think that in a sense, I do belong to Austria now. For me, it wasn't a specific moment that I can say from that moment on I felt accepted. It was more in the time that I got admitted into university and then I started more and more working in SOS and also I found another job. Then I really felt that I have a place in Austria and in general that's when I felt like I really belong in this society. It's interesting because when first I started living here after the first month where I was really happy and excited and the challenges started to show themselves, was that I felt a sense of homelessness. Not in the literal sense, but in the sense that I felt like I don't really have a home anymore, that I don't think I belong anywhere anymore. And that's something that I feel like a lot of immigrants in general and refugees specifically feel this ambivalent state of that you don't really belong to where you come from anymore. And obviously that's why you had to leave and you don't belong or you're not as welcome as someone naturally is in the land that you go to but now after two years I would say I feel like Heimat for me is is not the land specifically but it's the connections, the social network that you built for yourself. So when I think about Heimat, I mainly think about the people that I know, those that I work with, those that are my friends, those that I look up to, that I want to have connections with, and that's what Heimat means for me. In a sense, I feel like refugees in general are travelers. They don't really have a home home and yeah, I think in general I am a traveler that doesn't really have a home, but my home is the social connection that I have and the people that I love. My dream, especially when I was a kid, was to become a scientist coming from a family that really respected education and cared about it and that's something that I was deprived of in my country. But here I'm I'm walking towards it, I'm studying now and still I think what I want to do in the future is to become a researcher and help people by advancing our science. a single achievement although if I were to talk about my achievements I would say studying in the university is something that I really that I'm really proud of it and I respect but but in general I think what I really think is my achievement and something that I'm really proud of is is the spirit of being a in a sense of, someone that doesn't give up. And I think that that's something that really distinguishes me probably from other people that although I really faced a lot of challenges in the times that I was getting into university, my degree was not equivalent to an Austrian one. So I had to come up with some documents from my Iranian former university so that I can prove that I'm qualified to be admitted to this new university in Austria, which was a very big challenge. And there was a timeframe for almost three months in which I didn't know I was still studying but I didn't know that whether I will actually eventually be admitted to the university or not or if I'm just studying for no reason and it's going to be a waste of time but I didn't give up and I did the best I could and I succeeded in the end. And that's something that I really respect. My goal is to be able to help people as much as I can. And I think people have different ways of fulfilling this. And for me, I feel like this is best done by teaching and probably by researching. I think what politicians can do to make it easier for refugees is to, I mean, we all hear about how much integration is important in the media, but nobody talks about what the state, the government can do to facilitate opportunities for making it easier for immigrants to actually integrate. Like, as I said, when I first came here, I couldn't work. I mean, theoretically, technically, I could, but IMS wouldn't allow me to. And obviously, if you're just at your home or at some Heim in somewhere with nothing to do 24 hours with no contact to any Austrians, then probably you're not going to learn German. Probably you're not really going to be able to integrate. So maybe if the government tried to make it easier for people to get into, I don't know, to school, university, and especially for work, it would make a whole lot of difference. I would tell the other refugees not to lose hope. And even though I know that most of them really feel difficulties, hardships that are almost intolerable, but I want them to always remember that this is temporary, that they shouldn't accept this temporary situation as their final fate, that they can always accept this temporary situation as their final fate, that they can always work against it, try hard, and if they try hard, they will succeed. you