The Decision
Syrian father and artist Mohammad Khrisat, 48, fled violence and destruction in 2013, crossing over the border into Jordan. Despite speaking the language and understanding the culture, Mohammad was an impoverished outsider, abandoning his art to scrape for work as a labourer, and all too aware that if they stayed in Jordan, their future would look no different.
In 2015 he joined the tide of refugees surging towards Europe, risking his life to travel by plane, inflatable boat and foot to Germany. He was welcomed into a community of artists, and he embraced integration, taking language lessons, hosting parties and playing drums in a church band.
When Mohammad was granted residency, he applied for family reunification, which was granted – partially: Mohammad’s wife and children could come, but not his widowed mother. Unable to contemplate leaving her alone in Jordan, Mohammad left everything he had built and returned to Jordan.
Six years later, it is though Mohammad’s year and five months in Germany were a sad and beautiful, dream. He lives in the same apartment that he left behind in 2015, and he struggles to put food on the table and pay the rent. His children are older, and their futures vastly downsized. His mother is still alive; by her, he has done the right thing. But he cannot avoid his own conscience, and the knowledge that the repercussions of his decision will echo into future generations.
