Learning German late into the night
Language is the key to integration and success — that was clear to him from the very beginning. As soon as he arrived in Germany, he learnt German in language courses. He also often studied late into the night with YouTube videos. Even during the Covid pandemic, when face-to-face lessons were cancelled, he kept at it. With great success, the language barrier has been overcome.
And yet it is still difficult to get from his culture to the local one. "Everything is very different here," says Hesham - the "way people treat each other, the way people think" and the importance of family. In Syria, the family is very important; in Germany, there is less cohesion. He first had to get used to many of the rules of society in order to settle in.
Receiving help
He also received help. In summer 2020, he met Lisa Keaton-Sommer and Andreas Sommer from Riedlingen. They helped him a lot, says Hesham gratefully. They learnt German with him and also supported him with job applications.
And they were successful.
During his time at the vocational school in Riedlingen, he completed an internship at the electrical engineering company Georg Schlegel in Dürmentingen and then applied for - and was offered - an apprenticeship as an electronics technician. He only found out afterwards that one of this relatives had also been working at Schlegel.
He started his apprenticeship as an electronics technician in September 2021 and completed it in June 2024. He was able to shorten his apprenticeship due to his good performance. He has now graduated it with a "good performance".
A conscious decision
The fact that he started his apprenticeship as an electronics technician was not a coincidence, but a conscious decision. During his early days in Germany, Hesham Al Hroub says he thought about which profession would suit him best. And he remembered events in Syria. At that time, there was hardly any electricity available and a lot of things ran on batteries. LEDs had to be connected again and again. A job that he enjoyed.
The 21-year-old now to a permanent employment in the company; he is working as an electronics technician for industrial engineering in maintenance since the end of June. A job that he enjoys. Because no day is like the other. He never knows what to expect in the morning; something new happens every day. And that's a good thing. Because Hesham is a lively guy. The young man goes to the gym a few times a week. He laughs a lot and can talk a lot. Every now and then a Swabian word slips into his flow of words. He has also passed his naturalisation test and is now waiting for his German passport. The end of a long journey.
