Reports | 25 05 2020
While the waves of Syrian asylum to Europe continue unabated, Jalal took the decision to swim against their current. The twenty-five year old returned to Syria, after having spent six months as a refugee in an EU country.
"The decision to return was far from a simple one—especially after enduring the torment of the arduous trek [to Europe]. Migration was not an option; it was a decision [forced upon us] by reality," says Suweida native Jalal. He adds that a host of reasons led him back to his country. He was incapable of bearing the life of a refugee—the camps are filthy; treatment is “indecent,” as he puts it; and he had suffered a disease transmitted to him from a fellow refugee there. When he was finally cured, he took his decision [to return].
Jalal’s decision to return influenced his twenty-year old friend Wasim, who is a student at the University of Damascus, and who had been looking for a way to migrate to Europe.
Says Wasim: "In these extreme conditions, the idea of traveling or [seeking] asylum is certainly on the minds of every young Syrian. I indeed had the intention to travel. But following Jalal’s return, and these stories [he told me]; I do not wish to escape the war to face something worse."