Page 234 - A Helping Hand for Refugees

A few years ago he fled Aleppo, Syria and came to Libya. When
conflicts started here as well, they reminded him of what he had been
through in Syria. When gunshots in the streets were heard inside his
house and when his house was robbed, he became certain that he and

his family was not safe there any more. Someone who he had been intro-
duced to by a friend promised to take him and his family to Europe.
The money he had wasn't enough; he could come up with the neces-
sary amount only after selling the furniture in his house and borrowing
some more.

After being kept waiting in a sizable warehouse with hundreds of
people, one night he sailed in a ramshackle boat in which people were
piled on top of each other; his wife and daughter sat apart. He was
inside the boat in a few square meters of space with scores of other
people. It was very hot inside and it was very difficult to breathe. As

they sailed away from the shore, he suddenly heard loud screams. He
reached the deck at the risk of stepping on other people. When he saw

232 A Helping Hand for Refugees