Sara’s story, Romania
Sara and his son, Sami.
When I came to Romania, I looked around and told myself: “My life begins now”.
Sara (whose name was changed due to security reasons), an Iraqi refugee from Syria was transferred to the Emergency Transit Centre in Timisoara, together with her 11-year-old son Sami to be resettled to a third country.
“I can barely remember the time when we were a happy family…that was before 2005, when we were first threatened”. Ahmad, Sara’s husband worked for an American company when they were first attacked. Their car was set on fire and Sami’s father got wounded. Other attacks followed, targeting them and other members of their family and despite the fact that Ahmad had in the meantime given up his job, nothing changed. After more than a year in terror, the three of them fled to Syria. “Shortly after that, my husband went to Turkey, hoping to find work. Our last conversation was over the phone. It’s been eight years now. We haven’t heard from him since then, and Sami, who was only three at that time, doesn’t remember him anymore.”
Being alone in a foreign country, looking after a small child, Sara struggled each day. Then the conflict in Syria started and their lives were in danger again. “Everything around us was falling apart, bit by bit, explosion by explosion. I remember the day when, walking down the street, I heard a loud noise and then nothing. I looked at Sami to see whether a hand or foot was missing, whether she was alive. We survived the blast and I could hear again only after 25 days. Since that day, Sami and I are always together.”
Soon the two could not go out anymore because of explosions and violence. “Sami’s school was destroyed; a bomb fell on the other side of our apartment building, tearing it into pieces. But on the day masked men stormed our neighbour’s house and killed him, I told myself: that’s it, we have to leave here to save ourselves. I took Sami’s hand and we found shelter in a hotel.” Shortly after that, with UNHCR’s help, Sara and Sami were evacuated from Syria to be resettled to a third country after a transit period in Romania.
“I don’t know how our lives will be from now on, but we’re counting the days until we have a safe place of our own. Even if I have to work day and night, I’ll be happy… I want to build a future for Sami. Here, in Romania, I started hoping that everything will be all right. My son, for the first time in many years, smiled again. All that sadness on his face – it’s almost gone.”
”I cry sometimes. Then I stop, wipe my tears and tell myself: that’s life, we’re moving on…”
Text by Gabriela Leu
