From Syria to Spain thanks to soccer

Son Osama Abdul Mohsen, a Syrian refugee who made the headlines on September 8 when he was tripped up by a Hungarian TV camera operator, arrived at Madrid¡¯s Atocha train station on Wednesday night with two of his sons.

It was the end of a long journey whose happy ending was made possible by Miguel ?ngel Gal¨¢n, head of Spain¡¯s National Soccer Coach Training Center (Cenafe), who decided to help after finding out that Mohsen had been a coach at a first-division team in his home country.

A Cenafe student traveled to Munich, where the family was camping out, to help them with the trip to Spain.

We¡¯ll do whatever we can. For now, we have used money from our advertising budget to pay for an apartment in Getafe where they can stay¡±

Miguel ?ngel Gal¨¢n, head of Cenafe

Mohsen was greeted upon arrival by Gal¨¢n and by Sara Hern¨¢ndez, the mayor of Getafe, where the training center is located. The family will stay at a rental apartment paid for by Cenafe.

Mohsen had fled Syria with seven-year-old Zaid after being tortured by the regime of Bashar al-Assad and watching the Islamic State advance toward his village.

¡°I escaped Syria because of the war: Bashar al-Assad¡¯s troops were beating us and the Islamic State was a threat,¡± he confirmed.

In the southern German city he was reunited with his 18-year-old son, Mohammed Al Ghadabe, who had left Syria earlier.

Mohammed Labrouzi, the Cenafe student who was sent to help the family, explained how the trip was organized.

¡°They speak Arabic like me and a smattering of English. They rested for most of the trip, because we left Munich at 6.15am,¡± said the 23-year-old trainee.

Labrouzi first contacted them on Monday at noon. ¡°They told me they wanted to come, and I did everything in my power to achieve that.¡±

Meanwhile, Mohsen¡¯s wife and two other children are back in Mersin, a Turkish city on the Mediterranean near the Syrian border.

¡°They¡¯ve been there for two weeks, but I hope that soon they will be able to join us. [Cenafe chief] Miguel ?ngel has told me that we will all be together again. We are happy, but worried about my wife and children, because I don¡¯t want them to remain there,¡± said Mohsen.

Next week, Cenafe will try to bring the rest of his family to Spain, and as soon as Mohsen learns Spanish, it will consider offering him a job.

¡°We¡¯ll do whatever we can. For now, we have used money from our advertising budget to pay for an apartment in Getafe where they can stay,¡± says Gal¨¢n.

English version by Susana Urra.