Greece: Testimonies from Idomeni

Ahmed is from Mosul, Iraq, and decided to flee to Turkey when the security situation became increasingly tense in his home town. Unable to secure a good life for himself and his family in Turkey, he decided to try and get to Europe to seek asylum, but the journey turned out to be much harder than he had thought. 

 

“My initial idea was to pay a smuggler to go from the coastal town of Mersin on a ship to Italy. We all had to slide down some very steep slopes to a small boat that waited for us, which then brought us out to a bigger boat. But after that, we were soon surrounded by Turkish coastguards who told us to turn back. When the boat continued, they started to fire rubber bullets at people onboard. Soon after, a Turkish army ship appeared and started to fire real bullets at the engine.  The captain then gave up and the boat was escorted back to Istanbul. 

 

After this, I tried to enter Europe through the Turkish border with Bulgaria, but my group was stopped by Turkish police before we could reach the border.

 

I then paid a smuggler to take me from Turkey to the Greek island of Chios, but the boat was stopped by Turkish coastguards twice and sent back to Turkey. On the third attempt, I found myself crammed together with fifty other people in a small rubber boat. At sea, the boat was nearly about to sink, but the Greek coastguard rescued us at the last minute and brought us to Chios. There, I spent five days, sleeping rough in the open, with hardly anything to eat, before finally getting the permission to leave the island for Athens.

 

In Athens, I made five attempts to board planes to get to Germany, but was turned back at the security desk each time because I didn’t have the right documentation. 

 

I am now attempting to make the journey to Germany on foot through Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and Austria. I know that the rest of the trip will continue to be difficult. But there is no other hope for me than to eventually reach Germany and apply for asylum so that I can bring the rest of my family there.”

 

Sarah, 20 years old, from Wakiso district in Uganda, is travelling with her sister Barbara, Barbara’s baby, and another friend from Uganda.  Sarah is six months pregnant, and has already had to endure a long and dangerous journey.

 

“Our father was killed in Uganda by a neighbouring tribe, in a land dispute. Some people helped us to get to Kenya because they knew our father and were thinking that the tribe were going to kill us too. Someone then directed us to go to Turkey and then to Greece.  

 

In Turkey we boarded a small inflatable boat with 45 people.  After travelling a small distance, people realized that water was slowly entering the boat. We tried to call the coastguard but they were not coming. The water had already started to come inside the boat and we were all getting wet, even the babies. We thought life was over for us. No one knew what to do. Then we said our prayers and everyone was crying because the boat was sinking. One person had a heart attack. But suddenly we saw a big torch and we were rescued by the Greek people. It was like I saw God himself. 

 

After, they took us to the hospital. They also gave me some medicine and my sister’s baby some new clothes. They even gave us food. We then took the big boat to Athens , and then a train to Thessaloniki. From there it’s not easy to get transport to here, so we walked all the way.  At the border, the police came and found us and arrested my sister and my friend.  They let me go because I was pregnant. After a while, they released my sister and my friend. 

 

We are travelling with some Syrians. They are very nice to us, some speak English so we can understand. They give us water and help us with the baby.  We are very much afraid to cross the border into Macedonia because we hear they rape women there.  But we can’t go back to Africa now.”