“What happened to the GPS?” mutters Ahmed Jinaid Ahmed, a former delivery driver in Syria. Ahmed and the rest of his party are totally reliant on a $275 phone — their sole compass to freedom. With mobile internet, it costs them three months’ pay. Following this device was Ahmed’s 19-year-old niece, 11-year-old nephew, and Ahmed’s brother. Tagging along with the family members was 17-year-old Ahmed Ehai. Their two guiding factors are “God” and this now inoperative, cell phone. It contained the carefully mapped out “black route,” as so accurately named by aid workers, which the group was following to meet up with Ahmed’s brother, Ismail.
This path to asylum is common amongst those fleeing Syria. A country plagued by civil war, with no end in sight, the citizens of Syria flee their homes in search of safety. Requiring economic support, housing assistance, and freedom from fear. Many of the states the Syrian refugees can reach do not, or can not, offer all three of these factors. Due to this, refugees are attempting to work around the system to achieve the best life possible away from Syria. Many families send someone to these nations first to get asylum and then apply for the rest of their family. This tactic was originally chosen by the Jinaid family but was thwarted due to changing regulations.
Ismail left the scourge within Syria some months before with the now null hope of providing asylum for his family. Now, his family has been forced to make the journey to reach Austria. With danger lurking around every corner this is not the avenue the Jinaid family had hoped for. On the first night, they were followed by Wolves. By the second, they came to learn that they had only gone in a large circle, plagued by poor cell signal and incomplete navigational information given by fellow refugees. The Jinaids have become all too familiar with having to find alternate routes to reach Gmünd, Austria, where Ismail is.
To reach Europe, Ahmed paid $2,000 to board a 30-person pleasure cruiser loaded with 75 people that took the group to the Greek island of Tilos. From there, the group was told by a smuggler to take a train to northern Greece. They planned on meeting someone there who would take them to Austria, but the person never showed. In an attempt to make it to Macedonia, the Jiniads paid a taxi driver $330 to take them to the border. They only made it ten minutes before being kicked out. After which, they were picked up by police and eventually given to a gang who demanded payment to be released. Once released, the group took a train to Serbia and then was handed to Serbian police for documentation. They were given only 72 hours to stay in the country. “We would only die once in Syria…Here we are dying 5,000 times,” said Ahmed. And after this, he knew the path through Hungary may be the hardest part yet.
Attempting to meet with a smuggler who would sneak them into Hungary, Ahmed reached a split path with no guidance. The phone was not working and the smuggler “does not know the Serbian side of the border.” Having to take a gamble, Ahmed led the group on a path along the river, only to find that the smuggler was nowhere to be found. While hiding behind a grocery store in Hungary, the group was spotted by the police and rounded up. Ahmed Abd Elhai, the 17-year-old, was the first released and followed the plan set by Ahmed. The two had plotted for Elhai to claim he was the 11-year-olds big brother, this was done in order to get custody of the boy and return him to Ismail. The three remaining were deported to Serbia 15 days later. Finally, they were smuggled to Austria by some people Ahmed paid off.
The 1,600-mile journey by the Jinaid family is only one story of the 102,000 migrants who have risked the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe in 2015. While the family could have been granted asylum in Greece and other parts of the European Union, they would have been limited in these other nations. These so-called “promised lands,” including Austria, France, Germany, and Sweden, offer shelter, a stipend, and possibly a good job to asylum seekers. Syrian refugees have developed tactics to work around both the legislation of each country and the threats within their borders. The actual refugee journeys, however, demonstrate the flawed system of the EU and the inhumane nature of those who take advantage of these desperate people. With proper materials and direction from NGOs and government initiatives, we could save both the European nations and Syrian refugees.
Sources:
– Faiola, A. (2015, June 25). The ‘black Route’ to Europe, and the story of a Syrian family who braved it. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/exodus/black-route/.