African Immigrant Success Story Tops In His Class University Entrance Exam

He graduated at the top of his high school class, and just came in first in the entrance exam to study Electrical Engineering at Piraeus University. Great news to hear about any student. But what makes this young man’s story so extraordinary is that he’s an immigrant, from Africa.

This is the story of how he went from arriving in Greece alone, at the age of 16, as an “illegal immigrant” in 2011 — to  learning to speak fluent Greek and rising to the top of his class in less than four years.

Meet Julien — an orphaned minor, a refugee who made his way from Africa via Turkey to Greece, was locked up in a detention center on his arrival, and then lived homeless on the streets of Athens — only to find a caring community that helped him thrive, in the poorest region of Greece. Now, he says, “I want to become useful… To give, as much as I am able, to Greece that helped me.”

Which is why his story is so important — and why Julien is more than just the pride of Konitsa. He is a sign of hope for Greece. His story is like so many others — it even mirrors the story of many a Greek immigrant who came to America or Australia. But it tells the tale of a different Greece — one that isn’t being covered on the nightly news.

Julien’s story did make it on the front page of a few Greek national newspapers, and a couple of local ones. And with good reason. As pointed out by New Europe, “Greek university entry exams are notoriously difficult. Families spend a fortune on tutorials and the competition is enormous, more so in major urban centers – Athens, Piraeus, Thessaloniki.”

How did a poor African immigrant fare better than those with so many advantages?

“We met Julien in the Juvenile Refugee Protection Center of Konitsa, where he has been living for the last three years,” writes Spiros Sideris for the Athens-Macedonian News Agency. “When he arrived in Greece he was 16-years old. At first, he encountered great difficulties.”

As an “illegal migrant” he spent three months in detention centers — a teenager locked in a cell with adults, as is often the case in Greece — in Evros, a border region with Turkey. “Then he was released, with no provision for his welfare,” reports New Europe, and Julien made his way across Greece to Athens, where he lived on the streets in the center of Athens.

Then, a little under a year after his arrival, in October 2012, a public prosecutor intervened in his case, and arranged for Julien to be sheltered at a juvenile protection center, far away from Athens, in Epirus, one of the poorest regions of Greece.

“At the time,” New Europe reports, “he spoke no Greek at all and was depressed.” Employees of the center remember the teenager was always sad, pensive, and his only request was that he may be allowed to go to school, reports AMNA.

His request was granted — and the chance to attend a vocational school in Konitsa made all the difference.

“My parents always told me that the most important thing in life is education. I kept this,” says Julien. Having been deprived of the opportunity to finish school in his native land, “he grabbed the chance” to attend school, reports New Europe.

The school in Konitsa, Julien tells AMNA, became his family, and his classmates and teachers embraced him “from the first moment.” To help him learn the language, a dedicated Greek literature teacher, Mrs. Gianna Nikou, tutored him in the afternoons after school, “free of charge.”

Julien progressed enough to come in first in his class every year — going on to graduate with a 19.8 grade point average (out of 20).

Clearly, Julien stands out in Konitsa, in more ways than one. (People in Konista, reports AMNA, have even become accustomed to seeing him make his way uphill to Stomio Monastery to visit the hermitage of St. Paisius on the mountain above the town.)

But his success holds a lesson, and a promise, for more than just the town of Konitsa.

To Julien, the lesson and promise are clear. “I want to dedicate this success to my parents and my siblings, who are no longer in life,” Julien says as he tries to hide the tears flowing from his eyes, writes Sideris for AMNA. “My parents were the ones who had pressed upon me the value and desire of education since a very young age.”

Indeed, learning a new language and culture has not erased Julien’s memories of the family he lost. The orphaned son of a politician who struggled for democracy, he shows a reporter a bible, “a talisman” he received from his mother he says, before they were separated forever, violently.

Looking back on his own struggle, though, and how far he has come since his arrival in what he calls his new homeland, Julien says, “I thank Greece for supporting me. I thank everyone here in Konitsa, who helped me to stand on my feet and move on.”

When asked how he sees his future, Julien tells AMNA, “I want to go to become a useful and important man for society. To give, as much as I am able, to Greece that helped me.”

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