They are fleeing hunger. unspeakable violence. and a land that no longer offers any hope for their children. They have endured barrel bombs. chemical attacks. indiscriminate shelling. the barbarity of ISIS. and now a military offensive sponsored by Russia and Iran. To reach Europe. these refugees have been preyed upon by traffickers and other criminals. some selling refugee children for sex. for slavery. or for organs. The refugees have risked drowning at sea and suffocation in locked vans. and they will soon confront the freezing temperatures and snows of winter. While we were traveling. we heard accounts from the refugees of paying smugglers thousands of dollars to get on small boats with motors that barely work. boats built for a few but loaded with 40 to 50 refugees. I use the term "boats" loosely. What I am talking about are rubber rafts that were built to hold maybe 10 to 15 people and were loaded with 40 to 50 refugees. The Greek Coast Guard told us that refugees pay exorbitant prices for life preservers that are more like the childrens inflatables that you see at swimming pools. When refugees set off from Turkey across the Aegean to Lesbos. they are instructed by the smugglers to puncture their raft with a knife if they encounter the Greek Coast Guard so that the Greeks will be forced to rescue them. I was profoundly moved by my conversations with refugees from Syria and other conflict zones in the Middle East. It is one thing to hear about millions of Syrian refugees fleeing the war. it is something else entirely to actually meet and talk with individual refugees. including children who have been separated from their parents. I was struck by the fact that many of these refugees have endured extreme hardship for weeks. if not years. Their future is filled with extreme uncertainty. Yet so many of them were filled with optimism and hope.
Keywords matched
refugees refugee