In Memory of Wael
In September of 2022, I was still living in bungalow #7 at Dareen Garden Home on Ko Lanta. One of the advantages of living there was meeting the travelers who would come to stay there. Some people were easier to meet than others because they were open to light social interaction. They would make eye contact, say hello, or even smile. Wael and his wife Anais were among some of the friendliest people I had met throughout my stay at Dareen. We connected immediately and started spending every day together.
I brought them to Pirate Beach among other places. I enjoyed spending time with this young couple. Anais was two years younger than me and Wael was two years younger than her. At first, I had understood that they were from France and indeed they had come to Thailand from France. Then, Wael told me that he was initially from Syria. He was an asylum-seeker about a decade ago when the Syrian civil war wasn't as hot a topic as it became later on. He was among the first few waves of refugees to leave Syria and find asylum in Germany. Wael could speak French, English, German, and Arabic; and we were once able to have a 5-minute conversation in Spanish thanks to his French.
About two weeks ago, Anais contacted me saying that Wael had died at the young age of 28. I felt a mixture of being unable to and refusing to believe it. He was quite a bright character. He seemed to be in good spirits most of the time and he was lively. Wael was a brother. When I asked how Wael had lost his life, I was shocked to discover he had taken his own life. According to Anais, he was under a lot of pressure and involved with negative people in a toxic environment. Wael was trying to help other asylum-seekers and the bureaucracy he dealt with in France was difficult.
At the time when they were visiting me, I recorded a 22 minute audio recording of Wael talking about his stories as a refugee. I wanted to write about his experience on my blog but actually, I was distant from my blog for most of the time I lived on Lanta. I posted less than ever and Wael's story never got published on my blog for that reason. Upon hearing that Anais was collecting stories and photos of Wael after his passing, I decided to finally put his story out on my blog.
At the beginning of the recording, Anais and Wael are talking about how the media propagates a fear of muslims. Anais goes on to compare the situation to Ukrainian refugees and how Ukrainians were seen as 'one of us' while refugees from Syria were outsiders. She goes on to make her point even further by saying that even French-speaking Christians, "who are way more Christian than we'll ever be,", from Africa will never be accepted into French society based on the colour of their skin. Wael expresses his desire for there to be greater awareness in the world, especially regarding such issues.
Wael's journey into Europe started at the Greek border. From Greece, he continued on to Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, and finally Germany. I don't have his full story unfortunately but this part of his story will give us a pretty clear image of what he had to go through.
Wael's initial experience of entering Europe was one of imprisonment. He was jailed upon entry into Greece on the island of Mytilene. Apparently, they were given nothing else but some stale piece of bread, a cup of water, and a cup of juice every day in the morning. He said they tried to avoid eating the food at the beginning because it made their stomachs ache. Eventually, their hunger took over and they were forced to eat the stale piece of bread. He remained in jail for a week until a UN delegation, including actor Douglas Booth, came to talk to them and convinced the authorities to release the asylum-seekers. He said that because he was from Syria, he had it easy. Others, he said, remained in those jails for months and years. Upon being released, they received their clothes and other belongings which they had to give up when they entered.
Anais reminded Wael about the part of the story where the refugees waited outside the Macedonian border for more and more people to show up. They wouldn't have been able to enter the country in small groups but they were able to do so as a huge group of hundreds of asylum-seekers. That's how they entered the non-EU country where they had heard stories of minors being severely beaten and people being raped.
Wael had started his story by talking about his entry into Hungary. He first mentioned that Hungary was the only country to uphold Dublin Law throughout their journey. The Dublin Law, he explained, sought to keep asylum-seekers in the EU country in which they had arrived. So if they were registered as asylum-seekers in Hungary, then they would be kept in Hungary, unable to go elsewhere in the EU. He said that in such a case, it was all over for them. And so, they had to be particularly careful in Hungary.
They were a group of 22 asylum-seekers when they reached the Eastern European country and their first task was to take taxis to Budapest in groups of four. Wael and his friend helped the others find taxis first and stayed behind until the end because they could speak English. Apparently, someone had called the police by then and Wael describes a bunch of police cars and vans approaching them. At first, they ran and the police started chasing them. Because of his green shirt, he thought he could hide in some tall grass. Meanwhile, his friend had started climbing a tree. The police came and nabbed them easily.
As they were being taken into custody, Wael broke down into tears. He was crying his heart out as he told the policemen how they didn't want to be in Hungary and how they wanted to just leave. The police left them alone for a moment and talked amongst themselves before coming back with an offer. They asked for $200 per person and they could walk. Wael's companion had the money but Wael himself couldn't afford to give up such a large amount. The officer expressed that he wanted the cash exchange to be done discreetly and Wael saw it as an opportunity. So, he started crying and thanking the officers. He hugged the policeman while slipping $240 cash into the officer's pocket, thanking him the whole time.
The cops told them to stay put for about half an hour before taking off but they ran as soon as the cops left. They found a cemetery and hid for a couple of hours. Apparently, there were no more taxis by that point. They asked people who walked by if they knew anyone who could drive them to Budapest. Most people told them to take the train and nobody knew another way of helping them. He said that normally, taking the train would've been a huge risk because of the controller on the train. However, they hadn't eaten or slept much in days and so they took their chances with the train.
At the train station, Wael bought a Hungarian book. His plan was to put his train ticket in the book and to keep the book on his lap as he slept. That was so that when the controller came by, he could just take the ticket out of the book without any questions. And according to Wael, that's exactly what had happened. They fell asleep due to being very sleepy and when they woke up, the tickets were punched with three holes.
In Budapest, they stayed in a hotel until they could find someone who would take them to Germany by van where they applied for asylum.
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