For Germany, refugees are a demographic blessing as well as a burden Samer Alkhamran fled the civil war in Syria and last year came to Berlin, where he has been granted asylum. Alkhamran, 30, is learning German and hopes to open a cellphone repair shop. (Henry Chu / Los Angeles Times) Reporting from Berlin — After only a month of language lessons, Samer Alkhamran can already say this in German: “I will open my own cellphone repair shop.” He speaks with an accent, and his syntax is a little shaky. But it’s music to the ears of officials in Germany who see Alkhamran, a 30-year-old who fled the civil war in distant Syria, as part of the solution to a looming problem right here at home.