LONDON — Ask scientist Nowras Rahhal about his cutting-edge work on a COVID-19 vaccine and he is eager to explain the complexities, but ask him where he comes from and he struggles for words.
Rahhal, who moved to Germany two years ago from Syria’s war-shattered capital Damascus, is stateless – meaning no country recognizes him as a citizen.
“When you are stateless, the simple question ‘Where are you from?’ becomes very loaded,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“Most people are happy to say where they belong, but I don’t know what to answer. I’d love to have a place to call home.”
Rahhal, 27, has just finished working with a team at one of the Max Planck institute…
Keep on reading: From Syria to COVID-19 frontline, stateless scientist sets sights on vaccine