“If you don’t find a job, create your own.”
When I came to France I started to cry. I don’t know why I was crying. Here, I’m starting again. So first of all I started to look (as all of us do) for a job. Applying and applying and applying. But I always got this same answer: “We are sorry.”
I’d had an idea when I first arrived. Could it work?
I needed to make it real.
I’ve always thought that it’s very important to understand the architecture, to understand the history behind it. And make the links between the past, the present and the future.
So for that I decided to do these tours in Paris, in a city I love.
I wanted to start my own business. But I was afraid. I didn’t know where to begin. I got some help, a lot of help, from very good organisations. They really helped me to understand entrepreneurship and being entrepreneurial in France.
One of them is The Human Safety Net. They helped me start my own business and make my idea happen: to be real, to be a project.
And here I am. After only a year I’ve started my own business. I have clients, I have employees. So It’s not only about finding a job. It’s not the only solution. There are a lot of other solutions: If you don’t find a job, do your own job. It’s more amazing. Going to work on Monday morning and feeling happy – that’s amazing.
After leaving Syria as a refugee, Leen struggled to find a job in Paris. With help from SINGA and The Human Safety Net, she now has started her own business: she hosts special architecture tours in the City of Lights. Discover more Leen Almasri' tours: www.airbnb.com/experiences/14639