'I wish ISIS had killed me rather than come to Europe.This is a slow death'

[lego 44,165]

 

 

 

Amid the fray and all the bodies pressed against the razor wire along the Greece-Macedonia border, fingers dig into my arm.

"Please, I am pregnant. Please," the woman said, her eyes filling with tears. "Please, I don't want to lose my baby."

A Syrian woman begs for help for her and her unborn child.

I shouted across the large coils of razor wire to the Macedonia police. I pleaded with them to just answer one question: "Will the border open?" But, aggravatingly, they just stare ahead and refuse to answer.

"Why are they doing this to us?" the woman asked.

It's one of two questions that I am constantly bombarded by in my career, the other being, "How can they let this happen?" or some variation.

Often it's asked in the war zones of Iraq and Syria or by those fleeing them after hell has rained down in the form of barrel bombs, suicide bombers, sectarian slaughter or ISIS terror.

 

The "they" that lets things happens tends to be the West. And despite "they" having failed to act time and time again, many still continue to cling to the hope that perhaps, this one time, they will act.

The questions are accompanied by endless, suffocating pain, despair and deep sorrow. They are questions that we cannot truly answer, not in a way that ever justifies the misery that is being caused.

But this is Europe. It's not a question those fleeing war should be asking here.

On the Macedonian border, the rain starts again. People huddle together under a coat or piece of plastic. Small bodies shiver up against parents. It has been like this for four days. Four days of wet clothes that hardly dry before the rains come again and no humanitarian organization, no government -- no one to do something as simple as setting up a tarp.

 

And no, I don't know why they were left like that. I don't know why preparations were not made given that this is not a new route for refugees trying to reach Germany, not a new phenomenon. No justification I have heard makes sense.

Fatoum sobs on her husband's shoulder. Her 5-month-old is sick, like most of the other children.

"I regret this; I wish ISIS had killed me rather than come here. This is a slow death," the woman from Syria said through tears. "We are so scared for our kids, that they are going to die."

"Why are they doing this to us?"

'This can be any one of us'

Macedonia did eventually open the border, even building the refugees their own makeshift train stop, away from the town where they used to board. The local population had been growing irritated with them; their presence was disrupting.

Out of sight, out of mind. Insulting perhaps, but no one cares -- it's a relatively quick transition for most.

 

Serbia is different. At a park in Belgrade close to the bus and train station, refugees wait under trees and in tents. There is food distributed here; the municipality has a medical station; hotels and restaurants keep their toilets open. It creates work, but no one we spoke to complain.

They remember war.

"One day you are handing out aid, the next day you can be receiving it," a Serbian aid worker told me. "The starting point for any conversation or debate about helping and finding a solution needs to start with that notion. That this can be any one of us."

Public transport takes the masses to various areas along the border with Hungary. Some will try to cross without being caught, crawling under the bright shiny concertina wire that snakes menacingly along the now demarcated border.

Most, however, follow the train tracks to the opening in the fence and hand themselves over to the police.

They arrive exhausted and parched, little feet stumbling over each other, begging "water, please, water."

But there is rarely water. I went to speak to a Hungarian police officer.

"No English. Go, no English."

Making my way down the line, I finally found one who said "They get the same as we do. They must go back to their county. They are illegal."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes. Go. Now go lady."

This is the gateway to the European Union. This is the gateway to a life of dignity, where human rights are respected. Or so the refugees thought.

We handed out what few bottles we had. Another journalist went on a water run. We went on a water run. An older man on a bike came past. And spat in the refugees' direction.

 

'They say Syrians are dirty'

At the Keleti bus station in Budapest, tears rolled silently down Nour's face. It's not her real name. She doesn't want her identity disclosed, not for the usual "out of fear for her family's safety," but rather because she doesn't want her family to see her degraded like this.

For days, she and thousands of others have been living in the station, sleeping on the ground on thin mats and blankets, suffering the humiliation of watching the disgust on people's faces as they walk past, stop to snap a photo and giggle to friends.

"They say Syrians are dirty. They are the ones who made us like this, we don't have a place to wash," she said, bitter and sad. There are only a few faucets available to wash and no privacy. "Hungary doesn't want us here, but they won't let us leave."

She is 27, with a law degree, a mother of a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old still in Syria whom she can hardly speak about without breaking down. She is making the journey with relatives, racing against the clock that is war, which could kill her children before she makes it.

Her only hope to save them is to get to Germany and legally bring them to join her.

Her hands and feet are covered in scabs from her attempt to break out of the Hungarian refugee transit camp along the border with Serbia. She managed to crawl through the barbed wire but then went back.

"None of my relatives were able to make it out, so I had to crawl back in, I couldn't continue alone," she says. "It's like being in a prison. They give us food and water once a day. They throw the water at us, and you have to scramble for it like an animal."

Just the mention of "camp" in Hungary creates a visceral reaction among the refugees. The camps are loathed and feared.

"You know they beat us," Nour adds. "In Macedonia they were rough, they beat the men, maybe once, twice, but that was fine. Here it's even the women and children."

"How can they leave us like this? Isn't the world seeing what is happening to us?" she asks.

How to justify or make sense of the fact that yes, the world is seeing what is happening, the same way they watched and continue to watch what is happening in Syria and Iraq.

But this is Europe. It should not be like this.

"I am so so sorry, I don't know. It doesn't make sense." I despise my pathetic response. Nour's pain is so raw, but words will offer her no comfort, and I can't give her false hope. It's too fragile, it shatters too easily.

 

more here

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/10/europe/refugee-crisis-questions-no-answers/

[lego 44,165]

 

[Fizzy 2,217]

This is sad :(

 

[Gaga Monster 13,001]

Really sad

[AM98GJ 3,086]

Oh god, this is so sad. I mean Europe could house all of these people, I feel like it's just the fact so many have come in such a short time the continent is struggling to deal with the numbers. I hope they make it and have the life they all deserve x 

[brizoda 4,176]

this is an humanitarian disaster, poor people

[lego 44,165]

 

Serbia is different. At a park in Belgrade close to the bus and train station, refugees wait under trees and in tents. There is food distributed here; the municipality has a medical station; hotels and restaurants keep their toilets open. It creates work, but no one we spoke to complain.

They remember war.

"One day you are handing out aid, the next day you can be receiving it," a Serbian aid worker told me. "The starting point for any conversation or debate about helping and finding a solution needs to start with that notion. That this can be any one of us."

 

 

Pleasantly surprised.

[AddMeOnMYSPACE 2,095]

Josh this is really sad!  

[Whispering 18,865]

Sad. Hungary is a mess, but all these camps are pretty horrendous. There isn't enough money or resources in these countries of aid and aid workers to provide for all these millions of people. 

Maybe they could offer transport back to Turkey or Syria, for people like this woman who would rather die.  Sadly, those in poverty in those areas don't have the means to get out, so they are stuck in places like Syria to die.

I don't think there is an easy or immediate answer for 23 million people...not one where millions of refugees end up in favorable conditions right away or even anytime soon. 

[lego 44,165]

 

Maybe they could offer transport back to Turkey or Syria, for people like this woman who would rather die.  Sadly, those in poverty in those areas don't have the means to get out, so they are stuck in places like Syria to die.

 

You sound very cold-hearted. Turkey has 2 million refugees.

And no, they shouldn't take this woman back to Syria no matter what she says.

 

[Whispering 18,865]

You sound very cold-hearted. Turkey has 2 million refugees.

And no, they shouldn't take this woman back to Syria no matter what she says.

 

Well, she said death was better. There are millions in poverty that would take her place?

I still don't understand why Hungary doesn't open their border and let them all make their way to other countries that are saying they will take the refugees? Why are they keeping them, if they don't want them? 

Again, I don't condone or agree with anything Hungary is doing here. I don't understand their reasoning with keeping these people in camps, when they are welcomed in other countries. What's their agenda? 

[lego 44,165]

Well, she said death was better. There are millions in poverty that would take her place?

 

I think you should read that whole article from that CNN link, it's pretty lenghty and watch the videos and try to understand and put yourself in these people's shoes.

Don't take one quote to make her look ungrateful, read the whole thing. No one wants to be humiliated and beaten and spat on. Not even those milions in poverty, people have dignity. 

[Whispering 18,865]

I think you should read that whole article from that CNN link, it's pretty lenghty and watch the videos and try to understand and put yourself in these people's shoes.

Don't take one quote to make her look ungrateful, read the whole thing. No one wants to be humiliated and beaten and spat on. Not even those milions in poverty, people have dignity. 

I did and I agree that these are deplorable conditions...even so, to wish that you could be back in Syria and killed by ISIS is ridiculous. To be killed would actually be the best scenario for a woman, as the other options are usually to be captured and repeatedly and violently raped, tortured and abused as a slave...and then killed. 

I was referring to those in poverty back in Syria...those without resources to get out. 

You didn't give your opinion on my questions about Hungary. Why do you think they are doing this? Why won't they let these people go on to countries that are willing to accept them? Do you think this is a temporary situation until they can send them to other countries? 

[lego 44,165]

I did and I agree that these are deplorable conditions...even so, to wish that you could be back in Syria and killed by ISIS is ridiculous. To be killed would actually be the best scenario for a woman, as the other options are usually to be captured and repeatedly and violently raped, tortured and abused as a slave...and then killed. 

I was referring to those in poverty back in Syria...those without resources to get out. 

You didn't give your opinion on my questions about Hungary. Why do you think they are doing this? Why won't they let these people go on to countries that are willing to accept them? Do you think this is a temporary situation until they can send them to other countries? 

You know that she meant quick death is better than slow one. She didn't mean 'oh I want to go back to warzone', but she could've died there from suicide bomber and she wouldn't feel any more pain. She came to Europe in hope for safety and she gets treated in inhumane and degrading way. And idk are you implying that all these refugees in Europe are wealthy just because they sold everything or borrowed money so smugglers would help them.

 

I already told you in another thread that I don't know why Hungary does that. Their prime minister sounds like fascist. 

 

[Whispering 18,865]

 

You know that she meant quick death is better than slow one. She didn't mean 'oh I want to go back to warzone', but she could've died there from suicide bomber and she wouldn't feel any more pain. She came to Europe in hope for safety and she gets treated in inhumane and degrading way. And idk are you implying that all these refugees in Europe are wealthy just because they sold everything or borrowed money so smugglers would help them.

 

I already told you in another thread that I don't know why Hungary does that. Their prime minister sounds like fascist. 

 

No, I'm not implying that they are all wealthy, just that they had the means for paying the smugglers to get them to Europe. I'm just thinking about those in poverty back in Syria who don't even have that choice and how sad it is that the poorest have no chance. The poorest in every society bare the brunt of their society's problems...and in Syria's society it means horrendous outcomes for those people. I've simply been thinking about them in this situation and how they are stuck...and wondering where they could run to, if they even can.

Are there more than 400,000 in the camps in Hungary? I don't know why they don't let them go on, other than just wanting to keep them to punish them. That was my question there. Are they intentionally not giving these people an outlet, even though it is available...or is Germany and Austria the hold up?