As the saying goes—and as he clearly shows—he’s «overjoyed.» Nineteen-year-old Kouros Nourmohammadi Baigi, the son of a refugee family from Iran who arrived on the coast of Lesbos on one of the boats used by migrants to reach the island, this refugee, with a score of 18.25, is the second-highest-scoring student in this year’s national exams in the science track at the Mytilene Model High School of the University of the Aegean. He scored 20 in math and physics, 19.5 in chemistry, and 13.5 on the essay. «It makes sense,» he says with a laugh, “since three years ago he didn’t know a single word of Greek!” Now, as he says, he wants to study in Thessaloniki, in the Department of Electrical Engineering.
His family fled Iran, where his father had opposed the theocratic regime. One night, from a coast in Turkey «on August 15, 2019,» his parents and his brother—who is four years younger and is currently a ninth-grader—made their way to Lesbos. The journey is familiar to every refugee in recent years. First to the Reception and Identification Center (KYT) and the camp, the «jungle» of Moria. From there to the municipal camp at Kara Tepe.
When that camp closed, they were transferred to the Kara Tepe KYT camp. «In the last few months, since we got our papers, we’ve rented a house and have been living here normally,» he says. His parents work as translators for an NGO, and he… «I was studying.» As he points out, «With the help of my teachers, I made it.».
With the help of his teachers, he also succeeded in learning the Greek language. «I learned Greek in three years,» he says, “because I lived in an environment where Greek was spoken.” “All of us refugees can learn Greek and integrate into local communities. We just need to be given the opportunity,” he emphasizes.
She’s wearing a white T-shirt with the Pythagorean theorem on it. «I bought it in Athens and decided to wear it today for my math teacher, Mr. Koutsoudis, who has helped me so much,» he concludes.
Kouros Nurmohamadi Baigi. A 19-year-old from Greece’s dark past to its bright future. A Greek of the future?;
