On Thursday the 29th April, under the guidance of religious teacher sister Marija Hijacinta Matanović, second grade students of the Sisak Gymnasium on Thursday met with their peer, a young man from Iran who arrived in Croatia two years ago.
Here are their impressions:
“Today we had a meeting with Yazdan, from Iran. Yazdan described the main reasons for his arrival and his trip to Croatia. One of the most important reasons is domestic violence perpetrated by his father. He is a second grade secondary medical school student in Zagreb. Yazdan speaks excellent Croatian, which he learned over two years. He explained that at first he didn’t even know where to find Croatia on the world map, that he was in Serbia and tried to get a Swedish visa which was denied, but he’s now happy about that because otherwise he wouldn’t have “met” Croatia. When asked what he missed from Iran, Yazdan said, “my grandma.” He taught us a little Persian and referred us to an Instagram page where we could start learning Persian ourselves. What does he like about Croatia? The answer was the culture, he said he loves the sea very much, and his favourite singer is Oliver Dragojevic. At the meeting, I noticed that Yazdan truly was happy and doing great in a new environment. I liked the project, we learned some new things. It’s always good to learn from other people’s lives experiences.” A.M.
“The meeting was very interesting and instructive for me. I was glad to see that Yazdan adopted a new culture and language as his own. He was very interesting and I like the way he speaks – Croatian sounds like his mother tongue! I hope he manages to finish his schooling. I believe he will have a bright future ahead of him. I wish him all the best!” P.T.
“I really enjoyed meeting Yazdan. I learned a lot of new things about him and about refugees in general. At first I thought Yazdan would mix Croatian and English but he spoke Croatian perfectly. What impressed me the most in this encounter was when Yazdan introduced himself to us in his mother tongue. Yazdan revealed it to us that he has his own page where he teaches people his language. I immediately looked at his Instagram page and followed him. In my free time I will definitely learn Persian. I think that meetings like this are absolutely necessary because people have a completely wrong perception of refugees. I hope Yazdan will be comfortable in our country.” K.S.
Croatian version
SUSRET MLADIH UČENIKA IZ SISKA S YAZDANOM – 1. DIO
Učenici drugih razreda Gimnazije Sisak, pod metorstvom vjeroučiteljice s. Marije Hijacinte Matanović, susreli su se u četvrtak, 29. travnja, sa svojim vršjakom, mladićem iz Irana, koji je u Hrvatsku stigao prije dvije godine.
Ovo su njihovi dojmovi:
Danas smo imali susret s učenikom Yazdanom iz Irana. Susret se odvio preko Microsoft Teams poziva i trajao je u vremenu od 45 minuta. Na početku nam se Yazdan predstavio i opisao glavne razloge dolaska i svoj put do Hrvatske, a jedan od vrlo bitnih razloga jest obiteljsko nasilje koje je činio otac. Učenik je 2. razreda srednje medicinske škole u Zagrebu. Yazdan odlično priča hrvatski jezik priča koji je naučio tijekom dvije godine. Objasnio nam je da na početku nije ni znao da Hrvatska postoji, da je bio u Srbiji i probao dobiti švedsku vizu koja mu je ipak odbijena, ali zadovoljan je time jer inače ne bi upoznao Hrvatsku. Na postavljeno pitanje što mu nedostaje iz Irana, Yazdan je rekao: „Baka”. Objasnio nam je malo perzijski te nas uputio na Instagram stranicu na kojoj i sami možemo krenuti učiti jezik i pismo. Što mu se sviđa u Hrvatskoj? Odgovor je bio kultura, rekao je da jako voli more, a najdraži pjevač mu je Oliver Dragojević. Na susretu sam uočio kako je Yazdan istinski sretan i izvrsno se snalazi u novoj sredini. Svidio mi se projekt, trajao je kratko, ali smo naučili neke nove stvari. Uvijek je dobro učiti iz tuđih životnih iskustava. A. M.
Susret mi je bio vrlo zanimljiv i poučan. Razveselilo me kako je Yazdan prihvatio novu kulturu i jezik kao nešto svoje. Bio je vrlo zanimljiv i sviđa mi se kako govori hrvatski jezik kao da mu je materinski. Nadam se da će uspjeti završiti svoje školovanje. Vjerujem da će pred sobom imati svijetlu budućnost. Želim mu svu sreću u životu i puno pozdrava! P.T.
Susret s Yazdanom mi se jako svidio. Saznala sam dosta novih stvari i o njemu i općenito o izbjeglicama. Isprva sam mislila da će Yazdan miješati hrvatski i engleski no savršeno je govorio samo hrvatski. Najviše mi se u ovom susretu dojmilo kada nam se Yazdan predstavio na njegovom materinjem jeziku. Yazdan nam je još otkrio da ima sam svoju stranicu gdje podučava ljude svom jeziku, odmah sam otišla pogledati njegovu Instagram stranicu i zapratila sam ga. U svoje slobodno vrijeme ću sigurno učiti perzijski. Smatram da su ovakvi susreti prijeko potrebni jer ljudi imaju potpuno krivu percepciju o izbjeglicama. Nadam se da će Yazdanu i dalje biti lijepo u našoj zemlji. K.S.