Day 11

Shouting from the coast guard to land, shouting from the people that were rescued, shouting from one of our team to the boat. The child is handed off the boat to the doctor on the harbor, his lips a shade of purple and blue I have never seen in my life. The doctor administers CPR and whatever other medical care he needs to. At this point others are coming off the boat and we’re attempting to cover them in emergency blankets. The ambulance would finally get here nearly 15 or 20 minutes later. They load the child and take off to the nearest medical center about 30 minutes away.

Following the ambulance is the mother and two other children being driven by someone from our team. For those of us at the harbor we continue trying to situate the other until we hear the final news from the hospital.

The last several days have been fairly light work loads. Some form of political game between the EU and Turkey has had Turkey’s cost guard monitoring the seas during the day. This of course preventing any boats from coming in during the day. Which in turn results in people attempting to make the trip at night.

I should be clear as to what making this trip is like in the first place. While my description is obviously from an onlooker, I still want to attempt to paint the picture for clarification. During the day in a properly sized boat with the proper number of people on it, that 30 minute trip seems like a gorgeous leisurely stroll across the water. Now turn that boat into a rubber raft not intended for anything more than maybe 10 people crammed with nearly 60, a motor that can barely push the boat itself, oncoming waves pouring water into the raft, and add onto that a darkness in which you cannot see even your own hand. Looking at the water from the shore at night looks terrifying enough. Being on it in an open raft just doesn’t process in my brain, I couldn’t do it.

So while whatever pathetic political game continues to be played, people will continue risking their lives over a stretch of water that has become infamous for stealing peoples lives, whether it be their soul or all of their belongings.

Our shift for the day was to be spent at the Oxy bus station/camp. With only a couple of hundred people there things were going smooth and our workload easy. It gave us a chance to talk to people, listen to their stories and learn about what’s happening.

A group of young men told us a few words about their smuggler and experience coming from Turkey. They told us how they had to spend four days hiding in the forest until they were finally told at gun point to get in the boat and leave. One of the men mentioned that the smuggler took them out to sea then jumped in the water and swam back, leaving them there to figure things out on their own.

One of the men called me over to him and his friend as they were seated against the guard rail. He was waving his cellphone around with the battery pulled out. The first thing he asked was if we had a blow dryer. I told hime no I’m sorry. So we started to joke about how were were going to get a blow dryer in the middle of this dirt patch of land with nothing more but a few tents on it. Eventually we’d get to talking about his story. He was 31 years old, married and had 3 kids. When asking them where in the camp his family was he said they were still in Syria.

He had been beaten on three different occasions by Assad’s thugs. He knew it would only be a matter of time until they killed him like they did his neighbors. He had no choice, if he stayed they would kill him, leaving his wife and children without a husband and a father. He also mentioned that his parents were in Iraq. His father Syrian and mother from Iraq. I asked him what he planned to do and where he planned to go. “I don’t know, but I had to leave”.

These stories and situations are so far from the life that we live in our comfortable houses and desk jobs. Most of us have and will never have to worry about our lives being threatened and having to run, and if we did I don’t think we’d be able to handle it the way these people do. This man’s entire life was turned on it’s head and yet not a sign of weakness in his face, the way he spoke or the way he carried himself. He wasn’t looking for someone to feel bad for him, he was just sharing his story.

As other young men came into the conversation I remember someone mentioning their comments on the different parties killing each other in Syria. One of them mentions Daesh or ISIS and that they are animals. Another one fires back and says in Arabic “What animals, animals are more merciful than them”.

In a separate conversation our team lead and I spoke with a man named Sadaam, he and his expecting wife had arrived early that morning. The thing I remember the most from that conversation was his explanation of having to pick a side. But not one or the other, he mentioned all the parties he could remember that were fighting in his home town. He counted out at least five or six. It didn’t matter whether you were a fighter or a dentist, you had to choose which one to be with. Each one had their fighters and their own dentists, so regardless of who you are or what you do if you didn’t work for one group it meant you were working for the others.

We eventually cleared Oxy of people for the second day in a row and were excited to see it like that. With nothing more to do here we returned to the hotel to eat and rest. After our late lunch I’d walk around the harbor with one of my team mates watching the sun set and conversing about martial arts. It was a very relaxed and peaceful setting. I’d return to my room ready to sit on the balcony and relax before going to sleep. Right as I sat down I turned my head over my should to see the coast guard boat pulling in with a boat full of people. But no problem, we got them registered, up to the camp, fed, and with some dry clothes. Job done, no chaos, everything going smoothly.

We sit down at one of the restaurants and grab some food with some of the people from the boat ordering food just behind us. A group of young guys ordering a shawarma sandwiches. Right as we finish our meal the word comes in, the coast guard had just picked up a boat of people and there is a child on boar dying. Immediately a whirlwind of people running and preparing for the boat. The operation lead overseeing things here goes into a panic mode telling everyone to stay calm and be ready, but it’s obvious she’s the only one panicking. As were prepped for the boats arrival we took out security blankets and piled them. When the boat finally arrived it parked in spot where a now closed restaurant was usually operating. We had gotten lucky that they were closed for the season and the area was empty. Next door was a still open restaurant with some customers eating a quickly interrupted dinner. Strangely enough we had just eaten at that restaurant earlier that day.

As we moved tables and chairs out of the way crowds started to gather to find out what the shouting was all about. The coast guard now approaching yelled at them to get away. The dying child first off the boat followed by children, women, and then men. On the boat lied another young man passed out, it appeared he’d been in the water for several hours and had swallowed quite a bit. The doctor still administering CPR shouted orders for things to be brought to him. The child’s mother, brother and relative were seated in front of the doctor. She was turned away as to not look. When asked where the father was we were told Germany. The mother, her relative of maybe 15 years old, her younger child of 2 and then the dying child of maybe one year were traveling alone.

The restaurant owner was now bringing out cups of tea and handing them out to people for warmth. We moved people away and up to the camp, we had to move quick, the ambulance was coming and they had to be out of the way. The ambulance and the mother in the other vehicle were now on their way to the medical center. As we got the others situated there were a couple of other medical emergencies we had to deal with. The young man was passed out on the boat was stable but had to go to the medical center. Another man had fainted when he got on land and fell on his back and onto his head.

I helped register people at the camp as the coast guard expected of us. Just as we finished registering we get the final news:

The child was dead upon arrival at the hospital.

I made my way back down to the harbor and found that the two other men in need of medical attention were still being helped. We loaded them into cars and sent a family member for each one to go with them. One of the men’s family members insisted on sending both the uncle and aunt (husband and wife). The only problem was their son had fallen asleep on the harbor where the boat had come in. I had to pick the boy up to take him up to the camp but he woke up just before the car could leave and saw his parents. Immediately the boy began crying and kicking, I could barely hold on to him. He got out of my hands and ran to the car, he insisted on going with his parents. We’d eventually get the mother to stay behind with the boy but the boy wanted his father. He attached himself to the car and wouldn’t let go. Once again I had to pick him up as though I was restraining him and had to carry him to the camp footsteps where I asked him if he wanted to walk. By now he had cooled down and said yes, but he sat on the steps and wasn’t moving until his dad came back. At this point I left the mother and other family members to deal with it.

By now things had cooled down, the harbor was clear of people.

The child was gone, the mother would never again hear her child’s cry, see his smile, put him to sleep or even change his diaper. In an attempt to find a better life, she would lose one of the most precious. The images of that child and the mother crying will remain very clear to me for a long time.

Personally I feel very confused, angry and saddened. I’m confused as to how I should feel to begin with. I’m angry at the situation driving people like this mother to a state so desperate that she’s willing to place herself and her children in such a dangerous setting. I’m angry at the smuggler who sent them. I shouldn’t be but part of me is angry at the father for not being here and the mother for getting on that boat at this time of the night. But I’m saddened for the mother and the child’s family. How is that mother going to call her husband to tell him what happened. Can you even begin to imagine how that phone call is going to go? After last night that mother will never again see her child, not even his grave. Only God knows where they will bury his body and if the mother would ever even get to come back to visit it.

Growing up I’d been to many funerals and helped lay many people into their graves. But they had already passed, this was the first time in my life I had seen someone die right in front of my eyes. The pictures we post online, the videos we watch on youtube, and the status updates we post along with this blog post will never do these people justice. One cannot begin to really understand and feel for people like this mother until you can see the look on her face as she watches her child’s soul leave this earth.

I ask anyone reading this to please, pray for that mother. That God give her patience and that she may one day see her child in heaven.