IDEAS FORWARD - 24H COMPETITION - SYRIA, TOWER FOR REFUGEES
"I studied to be a teacher, but I’m young, so I knew I’d be forced to fight. I don’t like fighting. I don’t like blood. But I was the only one working so I couldn’t leave or my family would go hungry. But my mother begged me and my wife to leave. She kissed my hands. She said she wouldn’t mind starving if she knew that we were safe. My wife and I sold everything we had to afford the journey.
We worked 15 hours a day in Turkey until we had enough money to leave. The smuggler put 171 of us on a boat. Once we saw the boat, many of us wanted to go back, but he told us that anyone who turned back would not get a refund. We had no choice. Finally thanks to help of many people we got to Greece. Another smuggler showed us map with route to Germany through Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Poland.
We couldn’t take shorter route because of the fence built on the Hungarian border. He promised to take us to Germany but after taking rest of our money he left us at the border. In Ukraine we met this man. He was refugee just like me and my wife. He told us that in Ukraine they also have military conflict and many people are escaping to Poland. In Bieszczady - near to the Ukraine border they built special skyscrapers for people in need, just like us. Finally we made there. We have never seen something like that before. People there were very kind for us. They gave us food, clothes and a small dwelling in one of the skyscrapers.
We will be working here and sending money to our family in Syria till the conflict will end. Our house in Syria is destroyed by now but they will give us dwelling we are living in and transport it back to our country. We will have our own small house in village we create with people we met here. I want to go back to Syria and teach children how bad war is."