Spending years in the Far East and Down Under made it a somewhat culture shock to set foot on European soil again. Beaches of Bali were suddenly concrete Copenhagen, and the masses of rain flooding the streets had turned to sleet and sleep under the winter cover of minus degrees.

Working with kids in Denmark, interestingly in our old grade school, was a cool experience, getting to jostle the imaginations of kids while pushing thoughts and concepts into this world proved a great catalyst. It was while working with immigrant and refugee children at Gentofte Youth School that David met Mansour; a young, charismatic and thoughtful Afghan refugee.

David was commissioned to create a documentary/information video detailing the life of a young refugee arriving in Denmark, and the, at times, turmoils this entails, and how best to overcome obstacles. Arriving from the streets of Peshawar, taking a bus through suburban Copenhagen can be an overwhelming experience. How does one prepare for night when only you’ve ever known day?

Mansour, at the top of his class, fluent in Danish and a can-do person was a great figure to portray. We enlisted his help to shine a light on life beyond tomorrow for refugees arriving in Denmark, and began the short film.

During the filming, David, Mansour and I grew close, and thoughts well hidden announced their arrival shortly thereafter. Mansour had escaped Afghanistan. Had left behind the violence, taking off with his mother and 5 siblings, headed for Peshawar, where the father was already preparing for their arrival and onwards journey.

Arriving, at the age of 12, being the oldest of the siblings, life was soon to take a drastic turn of events for Mansour, and everyone else.

20 lines run like the wind. A storm is brewing.

David and Christopher

PS. I would have liked to be a bit faster on the updating of this blog, but so much is happening at Refugees United, time disappears like a thief through the night.