Reports | 25 05 2020
“We put ourselves in something unknown, we don’t have any information about the journey, and we are not allowed to switch our phones on so that would lead authorities to our location through GPS system”.
Death Journey
Rozana Journalist has met Muhammad upon his arrival to the point of departure of inflatable boats in the Turkish city of Izmir that is considered a destination for the European dream for Syrians.
Muhammad and a group of Syrian guys has embarked in the boat; they set off from the shore near Izmir at the midnight last Thursday and Rozana kept in contact with him.
“We are frightened and stressed of failing not of drowning, horror is prevailing, and supplication is the only way to ease our stress somehow, Muhammad Alhammawi is describing the first moments of his journey by saying “I am in the inflatable boat now, everybody is stressed, we couldn’t even determine which island we would like to go to, until someone on the boat used his GPS device to help us, he said “we entered the Greek regional water and we are close to the Greek island of Chios”.
Muhammad is explaining “we were not allowed completely to use our phones, if we use it so the smuggler would scold us, this is the most difficult stage, because we put ourselves under the command of smugglers without knowing what could happen to us”.
According to Muhammad, the migrants felt comfortable when they saw the Greek coast guard members who were nice this time, they threw water bottles and helped the man who was driving the boat to get to the right way towards Greece.
Muhammad arrived in Athens on Saturday, hence, a new story of trying migration has started, but it is worthwhile as some people say.
Reasons of Migration
“Sufferance in Syria is what drove me to engage myself in this adventure”.This is what Muhammad said to describe his situation after a long journey from the city of Hama to Turkey, what cost him about 150 thousand Syrian pounds.
He left the city of Hama that is located in west-central Syria; he has been a draft evader for 4 years and he couldn’t get the master’s degree in kindergarten teaching.
Muhammad says “I know that I am risking my life and I could die at any moment, my first attempt to get to Greece had failed because the Greek coast guard had showed up and took the fuel of the boat then they left us at sea, when I tried to speak with one of them, he said in English “no babies, no Syrians”, what means that they don’t welcome new migrants”.
Alhammawi says that he doesn’t want to get a luxurious life, but he wants to learn a new language and skills, he wishes to complete his studies and to return to Turkey or to his country.