The story of Joudieh

“The manager of this place gave up because of the pandemic and I chose to take advantage of this opportunity. Restrictions have hit this economic sector hard, but I know that if you manage to keep your customers close, you can succeed.“

Joudieh
Business student and manager,
Romania.
Originally from Syria

If you pass through the chic old town square of Craiova you will notice a cafe that stands out through the multitude of languages spoken. Its clients form a small cosmopolitan community made up of both students from Greece or Bulgaria and young people from Afghanistan, Syria or Lebanon who came to Romania to create a future.

The person in charge of this place is Joudieh Basel, a young man who himself came to Romania two years ago. Basel makes everyone feel welcome because that’s what he wanted when he came to Romania, to find a place where he could be free.

He left Syria due to the ongoing conflict there. He wanted to get to Romania because he has a relative in Cluj, but life only brought him to Craiova, where he woke up without resources and without knowing anyone.

“I spent a few days right on the streets of Craiova because I didn’t know who to call and I didn’t speak Romanian. However, I was not discouraged, and I tried to talk even to homeless people to learn as much Romanian as possible”.
Fortunately, this situation did not last long, because he found out that there are Romanian language courses for migrants in which he participated, improving his speech and knowledge.

Now he is a business student, his brother also came to Romania and together they try their luck in business.
“The manager of this place gave up on him because of the pandemic and I chose to take advantage of this opportunity. Restrictions have hit this economic sector hard, but I know that if you manage to keep your customers close, you can succeed”, Joudieh Basel is convinced.

The most important lesson he learned is not to be afraid of failure because Joudieh is convinced that if you are determined you can recover from any situation.