Suha Cübeyli reminds us of the importance of persistence and patience: "You should work hard and stand out to succeed. Good things only come around when we try hard enough." She is a migrant, a businesswoman, a mother of three children and a wife. When the conflict escalated in 2012, she left her home in Halep, Syria 2012 and immigrated to Turkey. She settled in Şanlıurfa with her children because the relatives of her husband were living there. She brought her family to Turkey with little money; the war forced them to leave all they owned in Syria.
Suha tells us that she decided to go to work the day after she arrived in Turkey; she worked as a cleaner for five years with her husband while working in a hairdressing salon. "In the beginning, the people here helped us a lot, the Turkish people did so much for us, we were so lucky, we still are," she said. She was grateful that she was making money and supporting her family, but raising a family is expensive, even in a welcoming country like Turkey and the paycheck wasn't enough to cover her family’s costs. She had always been independent and owned of her own hairdressing salon in Syria for almost ten years. She dreamed of re-establishing her salon in Turkey, but it wasn't easy in a new country, with no savings.
One day she made the decision to change her way of thinking and to live without allowing her conditions to limit her choices. That day Suha decided to restart her business, after that decision, one of her friends mentioned IOM and suggested she contact her. She enjoys talking about that memory because life started to offer her new opportunities right after she made that decision. She applied for and was approved for a 'Cash Grant project'. She says that when she saw the acceptance message, she was the happiest person in the world.
“It wasn’t easy to attract people in the beginning, but when people started to know me, everything worked perfectly. It’s always like that in life; if you are a stranger, it is so normal for people to be distant from you; but when we started to communicate, talk, share and know each other, we can build a healthy relationship; that can be a with your customer, friend, or neighbours” she said. She describes herself as a simple person: “I am always smiling; therefore, I have a good relationship with people. I love them and, they love me back.” When talking about her workspace, she emphasizes the importance of building a community, a pleasant atmosphere for her customers, mostly women, to be together; have coffee and talk about anything. She is very happy to be able to operate her salon, provide a space for women to come together and highlight the importance of showing solidarity in tough times, “I was affected by the economic difficulties during the pandemic as many others, but we keep working with close attention to the rules.”
Suha has a strict rule in her life “I never am proud of the things I have not personally achieved such as my family, my country of birth or my background. I only feel proud of the things I have accomplished on my own as an individual.” For the future, she plans to develop her business and engage in new certification programs so she can continue to improve her services to her clients, by so doing, she expects to provide a good life for her children.
