Refugees just seeking better life
Although many organizations, churches, and individuals have been sponsoring refugees from Syria and elsewhere for a number of years, the world was shocked to see the body of threeyear-old Alan Kurdi, washed up on a beach in Turkey, following his family’s attempt to escape the war in Syria.
The picture of Alan Kurdi was seen worldwide, and it heightened our awareness of the plight of Syrian refugees.
I have been reading the book, “The boy on the beach.” It is about Alan Kurdi, written by his aunt, Tima Kurdi. She tells how her younger brother, Abdullah, was a refugee fleeing Syria, along with his wife, Rehanna, and their two young sons, Ghalib and Alan.
As she writes, “My nephew Ghalib had recently turned four and his little brother Alan, was just 27 months old when their desperate parents took that perilous journey on a raft to seek a better life. You must be wondering, ‘What could possibly compel refugees to make that dangerous crossing, risking their lives and those of their children?’ It may be impossible to comprehend unless you’ve lived the life of a refugee.”
Tima Kurdi explained that four of her five siblings, along with their families, had managed to get to Turkey, barely able to keep their families alive. By 2015, the war in Syria was in its fifth year, and their situation becoming more desperate. All of those siblings had children with no possibilities of schooling. Many of those in their teens had to work in Turkish sweatshops to help their parents make ends meet.
She went on to say, “My younger brother Abdullah did not want the same fate for his two boys.
His hopes for them were simple – adequate food and shelter, and health care – but fulfilling those basis needs was impossible in Syria and beyond challenging in Turkey.”
Tima was well aware of the kind of life her siblings had endured since they were forced to leave Damascus in 2012. She visited them in Istanbul in 2014, and saw for herself their “destitute living situation.” That was when she started saving money to help them get out of Turkey to a safer place. She also tried to sponsor Abdullah and another brother to come to Canada.
“But my attempts failed. I couldn’t get all the paperwork needed – it was impossible to get documents from a country destroyed by war – and the price of two private applications at once was just too much.”
So she decided to send Abdullah the $5,000 needed to pay the smuggler’s demand for him, his wife, and two sons for a trip across the Mediterranean in a rubber dinghy, and to the island of Kos, 4 kilometres away, and a new beginning.
She did have doubts, but as she wrote, “in times of such abject desperation, knowing that my family was already in such danger, I decided to pay for the journey.”
Had the journey been successful, it would have been a different story.
But the story is a strong indication of the desperation felt by many refugees as they try to better themselves and their families.
Harvie Barker is a Penticton resident and writer of inspirational messages. He’s the author of the book, A Good Word in Season Volume 8, now available at the front desk of The Penticton Herald for $10 with all proceeds to local charity.