Building a Future, One Goal at a Time

“Life is not easy, but if you have a goal, you can reach it through perseverance.”

For Bilal, becoming an architect was not simply a career choice. It became a way of imagining how he might one day contribute to rebuilding what conflict had destroyed. His path to that goal, however, unfolded across countries, languages, and years of uncertainty.

After leaving Syria, Bilal first went to Egypt in 2012. But his journey did not stop there, in 2013, he and his brother came to Türkiye, where their sister was already living in Ankara. In 2015, he was admitted to study architecture at Erciyes University in Kayseri, beginning a university program that would test both his determination and his ability to adapt.

The transition was difficult. Bilal arrived with limited Turkish and was one of only a few international students in his department. He recalls struggling with the academic language required for architecture. Yet his experience was not uniform: he also remembers a lecturer who recognized the language barrier and chose to communicate with him in English, making a meaningful difference during a challenging period.

Financial pressures added another layer of difficulty to Bilal’s university journey. While studying architecture, he lived in a dormitory and worked at a pastry shop to cover his living expenses. Juggling long working hours with the demanding nature of his studies left him with little time to focus on his education. He estimates that the need to work delayed his graduation by approximately a year and a half.

Receiving the DAFI scholarship marked an important turning point, easing the financial burden and allowing him to devote more time and energy to his studies.“If I had not received DAFI, I would have had to keep working to pay my expenses, and I do not know whether I could have continued university,” he recalls.

A degree in architecture also came with additional costs, including materials and models, while the support he received from his family was not enough to meet all his needs. Once the scholarship began, he left his job and was able to concentrate on his education. That opportunity helped Bilal stay focused on the goal he had set for himself: Graduating as an architect. Looking back, he says the experience transformed him. “I entered university as a child and left as a man,” he reflects. University taught him that life would not always unfold as expected, but also that obstacles could be overcome by remaining focused on a clear objective, “My goal was to graduate as an architect. Whatever obstacle came in front of me, I was going to focus on graduating’, he says.

After graduation, Bilal explored professional opportunities in Istanbul but found that many architecture offices were looking for experienced candidates. He eventually returned to Kayseri and opened an office with a friend. Today, he works remotely on architectural projects for a company in France, including drawings for heating and ventilation systems. He has also entered the furniture trade, taking advantage of Kayseri’s strong furniture sector to do business with countries including Morocco and Germany. Architecture is also part of his family life: his wife is an architect as well. Together, they are raising their son while building their professional and family life in Türkiye.

His relationship with Syria has also evolved. After recent political changes, Bilal returned to Syria to see the country again. The visit made him consider whether he might one day contribute to the construction sector there. At the same time, after many years in Türkiye, he found that the Syria he remembered had changed significantly. Returning permanently, he says, would mean beginning again in a place where he now also feels somewhat like a stranger. For the moment, he would consider such a move only if the right professional opportunity emerged.

Bilal’s advice to students with refugee backgrounds is rooted in his own experience: Understand what you want from education and professional life and learn the language of the country where you study as deeply as possible. Everyday communication, he emphasizes, is not enough for university; academic language matters too.

Through displacement, financial hardship, language barriers and difficult moments at university, Bilal kept returning to the same objective. His story is ultimately one of persistence: education did not remove every obstacle, but the opportunity to continue studying gave him the space to pursue a profession, build an independent career and imagine new possibilities for the future.