Imagine that you come to a country as a child whose language and history you do not know – and whose future suddenly becomes yours. This is how my story began: When I was ten years old, my Kurdish family fled to Germany from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. We ended up in an old barracks in Plauen – three rooms, six people. That was our first home. Even before I could speak German, I leafed through the "father and son" pictures by Erich Ohser in the pharmacy booklets while my mother marveled at the full medicine shelves. I learned the language on the soccer field, from helpful neighbors and later in the novels of Erich Kästner. Like Emil from "Emil and the Detectives," I wanted to find my way in a new world – and found allies in the process. From Plauen, my path led me to Dresden. Here I studied civil engineering, worked on construction sites and spent my Saturdays in the Rudolf Harbig Stadium. Dresden taught me what solidarity means: supporting each other and taking responsibility. These values shape my work as a member of the Bundestag - and that is precisely why it is important to me to give something back.