The Syrian conflict has torn the country apart, leaving thousands dead and driving millions to flee their homes. Many seek refuge in neighboring countries but others pay traffickers to take them to Europe - risking death, capture and deportation.
If you were fleeing Syria for Europe, what choices would you make for you and your family? Take our journey to read the real story of a family of Syrian refugees and to understand the real dilemmas the refugees face.
More than nine million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes and I and my family are among them.
I have sold my house in Damascus for a fraction of its value - $20,000. We are now in Lebanon but we dream of the safety of Europe. To make that journey and to realize our dream, we must take serious decisions and we must risk being smuggled across land or sea, or both. But we don’t have other choice… As Syrians, to get to Europe we have two options, to go through Turkey or Egypt. We decide to go through Egypt, which is the cheaper choice, even though living conditions are poor. The worst one is that the journey has to be by sea.
There are more than 130,000 Syrian refugees in Egypt. It's not a stable country and jobs are scarce.
Since 2013, Egypt has not allowed any more Syrians into the country without a visa. Fortunately, we get lucky and are granted visas. We've been in Cairo a week when we meet Ahmad, the smuggler. Ahmad says he can help us. We’re not sure if we can trust him, but we know we have to take risks on this journey… Ahmad explains that we have two options: to travel to Italy from Alexandria by sea or we can go to Libya, where the sea crossing is shorter.
We take a four-hour bus ride to Alexandria. Ahmad the smuggler takes us to a shabby, overcrowded flat. &Stay here until I get back. Don't leave!& He doesn't want us to get noticed. He insists on an initial payment of $7,000 each and leaves with our money. I and my family wait and wait... The place is disgusting; there is only one toilet between dozens of you. My family is getting sick. After five days our food supply is running low. We call Ahmad but there is no answer. So I start to wonder: ‘’Has he vanished with our money? Should we have trusted him?’’
We must decide whether to stay in the flat or go out to look for him and pick up supplies. If we stay in the flat, we will run out of food but if we go out, we may be recognized as illegals immigrants, and if caught, probably deported back to Syria. So, we decide to stay in the flat to at least save our lives and we hope to Ahmad come back.
We have run out of food and are desperate to get out. Ahmad finally comes back. &The boats are ready. You're leaving NOW!& He divides us into two groups: women and children in one boat and the men in the other. We ask to stay together, but he doesn't listen to us.
We refuse to be separated, my family is everything to me. Ahmad won't give us our money back. Lost in the chaos at the shore, another smuggler tells us he has a boat but he needs the rest of our money. In desperation, we give it to him. He takes us to a small boat already crammed full of people. After two days at sea, a big cargo ship appears. Everyone starts screaming and waving to attract attention. The ship sees us and follows our boat. After an hour, an Italian helicopter appears, help is on its way and we will make it to Europe.
MARINI DERMITZAKI
GEORGE DRANDAKIS
ANNA ARCHAGGELIDI –MORGAN
IOANNA KAMARITI