From Kurdistan’s sunshine to Amsterdam’s clouds: A story of hope and opportunity

Today, I became a Dutch citizen. I feel proud, grateful, and hopeful. Proud of being a citizen of one of the premier lands of democracy; grateful for those who are now my fellow citizens willing to give me a chance; and hopeful that, as a young entrepreneur, I will contribute to my second home.

I moved from Kurdistan Region of Iraq to the Netherlands on August 1st, 2014. I landed in Amsterdam late in the evening on a cloudy day. I had come from the land of sunshine to the cloudy skies of the Netherlands. I came to this unfamiliar place with a small luggage and one goal: provide a better life for myself and my family back home. Thanks to the support and opportunities this amazing country offers me every day, I achieved both goals in a relatively short time.

When I moved here, I knew absolutely no one. Thanks to the very diverse and multicultural city of Amsterdam, I have met the finest group of people who have become my friends and family here. Without my friends here, I would never be able to stand where I am now. I am so lucky to have each one of them in my life. It is not the better financial status I cherish the most but the amazing social life that Dutch culture offers me. Thanks to the very liberal culture of the Netherlands, I found out who I was, what I liked, and what I wanted to be. I was not judged but encouraged. The newly gained freedom allowed me to find my true self beyond any pretensions. I was also able to take risks without the fear of loss, and I gained what I had only dreamed to have.

I was born in February 1988. That was also one of the worst years in Kurdish history. Less than a month after my birth, Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, attacked Kurds in Halabja and killed more than 5,000 civilians. I grew up amidst a never-ending cycle of civil wars, economic sanctions and social strife. My childhood was not normal, but an abnormal childhood was the norm in Kurdistan. Today, I am grateful to God and the good people of Netherlands where I can be sure that my children will not go through what I witnessed.

I do not claim to be a special case. I do not think I am the best and the brightest of my people, but I could definitely be the luckiest. Today, I do not feel arrogant for my business successes in the Netherlands but rather humbled and privileged. I believe that if my fellow Kurdish youth back home had the same opportunities, many would move to be much better contributors to our human civilization.

I am writing these words on another cloudy day in Amsterdam. I still have the sunny Kurdistan days in my mind. However, it is not the weather which makes great countries but the opportunities it creates for its least affluent. I was given an opportunity, and I am happy to report today that I made the best out of it. I have learnt to appreciate the little we have but never fear to dream big. This country taught me not to allow my past failures define who I am. Impossible is just an idea, and dreams do come true.