I think we take up a huge amount of media space. It is constantly foreigners, refugees, immigrants. Are there really no other major challenges in Denmark? I work in West Jutland and many of my colleagues have often voted for the right wing. At the last election, several of them said they would vote differently because they got to know me personally. This makes me happy. They can sense that I need them and need Denmark. I sometimes work from 8 am to 11 pm and I’m the one with the key to the resort's safe.
My future was in Syria. I had a wife, family, job, house, but the system always had to have more and more of our money. We simply couldn’t live that way any longer, and we demonstrated against the al-Assad regime. Shortly after, I was sentenced to death, just because I had taken part in the demonstrations.
After three years on the run, I ended up at the Sandholm refugee camp, and later I came to Esbjerg. After six months, I was granted permission for “family reunion”. My two small daughters cried all the way from the airport to Esbjerg, because they did not know who the man was, who had picked them up. I’m their father, but to them I was a stranger. It was indescribably hard for me.
I try to set a good example for my girls, and work hard to create a life for my family. I am proud to have been promoted from chef to sous chef of the kitchen, but my big dream is to open my own restaurant where I would cook Danish and Arabic food. I love going to the Paradise Isles where I fish. Or just to sit by myself, and enjoy a glass of single malt whiskey. After everything I've experienced, I just love peace and quiet in my spare time.
Ammar Sio / 38 years / male / married / children / sous chef at Ho Holiday Center / Esbjerg / From Syria / Come to Denmark as a refugee in 2014 / residence permit same year