Name: El Safi Bayan MaksedCountry of origin: Iraq
In Ukraine since 2006
Profession: interpreter
Residence city: Kharkiv
— Be honest with people, do not expect others to help you, help yourself and others, set goals and attain them.
El Safi is an Iraqi refugee who after overcoming many difficulties has found her place in Ukraine. She arrived here about five years ago and settled down with her family in Kharkiv. In 2006 her husband died in a traffic accident. Return to the home country was impossible because of the civil war raging there. In Ukraine she worked first as a private tutor of Russian for the preparatory course students and worked in a shop. After obtaining the refugee status in 2009 she proposed to her friends to start a translation/interpretation bureau and, despite all the difficulties, managed to register her own enterprise in 2009. Things did not go smoothly in the beginning, but gradually it straightened out. El Safi’s company renders services for preparation of documents for foreign students who intend to enter Ukrainian higher educational institutions; interpretation and translation of documents necessary for entering educational institutions; consultation in the sphere of higher education in Ukraine.
In 2010, with support of UNHCR, El Safi successfully finished the Ukrainian language course and obtained a certificate. Later, in order to improve her skills, she also took training in Adobe Photoshop. She also benefited from the opportunity to receive the integration grant within the Project Local Integration of Refugees. Thanks to that she managed to replace the old hard-and software in her company’s office with the new modern PCs and office equipment.
El Safi is optimistic about the future. She has lots of plans: e.g. to start cooperation with higher educational institutions which admit foreigners.