In Their Shoes

Put yourself into their shoes. Imagine you’re from the Syrian town of Kobani. Kurdish forces and Islamic State (ISIS) fighters have been fighting in the town for almost three weeks. About 400 people, some of which could be relatives or friends, have been killed. You worry for your spouse and your three children, so you decide that enough is enough. You look into where you can go, with wealthy Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Qatar taking in zero refugees. You decide to take your family to Germany, thus beginning the long, difficult journey to safety.

You decide to take your family out of Kobani, waiting until nightfall to make your way to the Turkish border. You avoid being caught by ISIS militants, barely escaping the town that your family has called home for generations. As you make your way to Turkey, you have to be careful, as you have to avoid being captured by ISIS.

You, along with your family and dozens of other refugees meet on a Turkish beach to continue your journey by boat, as you and numerous others board a small, rubber raft on a quest to Greece. You’ve heard the stories of others that have gone on these same rafts, the ones that never made it to Greece.

Your raft begins to make its way across the Aegean Sea, as you hope and pray to make it to Greece or a Greek island. As the waves grow bigger and bigger as you get farther out to sea, you begin to panic. You lose sight of land, yet you keep your concerns to yourself, as you don’t want to worry your spouse or your children.

To calm yourself, you begin to think of life when you get to Germany. You begin to smile with the thought of your children being able to play outside without the fear of being kidnapped by ISIS or the fear them being caught in the crossfire of the constant fighting back in Kobani. For just a moment, you feel at ease. Just for that moment, all of your worries are gone.

Then, all of the sudden, a huge wave hits the raft. You hear a splash, someone just went overboard. You frantically look around, thankfully finding that your spouse and children are still on the raft. You see the person that fell off is too far away to get back to the raft, as the waves carry you away. All you can do is throw him a life jacket and hope for the best.

Then, after all of the chaos, you reach the shores of Greece. You hug your family as tears roll down your face. You think of the man that fell overboard, wondering what happened to him. You then take your family inland, hoping to find somewhere to stay. People greet you, giving you and your family food and bottled water, even a little bit of money. You thank them, as you try to find somewhere to stay.

You follow some of the other refugees to a nearby train station. You tell your family that you will be staying here for the night. There are some blankets laid out and you lay down for the first time in about a week. You know that you’ll have move north in the morning.

You make your way up north. As the days, weeks and months go by, you go through Macedonia and Serbia, as you finally make it to Hungary. Now, getting through these countries isn’t easy, you’ll be pushing through and climbing walls and going under barbed wire. You hear about a truck that could take you all the way from the Austrian-Hungarian border all the way to your final destination, Germany. Yet, you have your doubts. You’ve heard about the truck that promised other refugees a German escape, but was left behind, leaving 71 people to die. So, you decline the truck offer.

About a month later, you have finally made it to Germany. You and your family are greeted by cheering crowds that give food and water. You made it. But the question still remains, how will you make a living? You and your family also need to take lessons to learn German, which is pivotal for you to get a job. You don’t know where you’ll find work or how you’ll provide for your family. You face an uncertain future, just like you did back in Kobani, except this time, you know that you can succeed, now that you’re going into one of the most prosperous economies in Europe. You now have one thing that you didn’t have back in Kobani, hope.