This is the story of X, a refugee from Syria, in his own words:
‘Escaping the destruction and the endless bloodshed that has spread across Syria, we got lost looking for a European country that will accept us. The Arab nation is facing the problem with brutality and exploitation, in a cruel way, a way not to be accepted by humans.

I am a Syrian refugee, from the suburbs of Damascus, Zampantani, I want to live in a European country to continue my life and plans. This is my story with the “blood dealers” in Turkey, Greece and Serbia.

We traveled from Syria to Turkey looking for a smuggler to bring us to Greece. I found one that had the reputation of the “best”. He promised a safe way, a boat in good condition, small number of passengers. We gave our money to an office in Izmir and we started preparing for the trip.
The day after, we traveled to Bodrum and then to the departure point. After several hours waiting we saw a group of people walking and trying to carry a boat to fit 2-3 people. We were 20 shocked people, hoping that it would be a different boat.

But, this was our boat, where 20 people should board and we did, unable to move because once person’s legs were the others seat. We were in the middle of the sea when bad weather and big waves immobilized us, we could not move and our only anxiety was not to drown. After half an hour battling with the waves the boat ran out of petrol, we lost control, the waves pushed the boat left and right. We were half an hour in the darkness, full of fear and anxiety, it was a slow death for us, we thought we would become food for the fish. After a while a big boat with big lights was coming towards us, we were minutes away from death, we began to shout in order to be heard, we used the flash of the cameras and luckily someone on the ship noticed us and suddenly the ‘ship of death’ became the ‘ship of life’. After half an hour we were boarded on the Coast Guard’s boat that took us to the island of Kos.
We reached the island of Kos and stayed there for three days in the detention center, then we were released and went to Athens.

Eight months we spent in Greece, these were the most difficult period of my life and under very difficult conditions.

A couple of months after, me and a friend of mine were looking for a smuggler in order to travel by plane to Germany, but we couldn’t. If you want to travel illegally by plane you need to have a good demand of the Greek language and you should also look like a European or just be lucky.
We were looking for our way to Germany by plane for a month but we were not lucky and the fact that it was the end of the tourist season didn’t help us, so we decided to try to walk.
A month later, it was our first attempt to Serbia, we left Athens in order to go to Thessaloniki to meet the smuggler. During my stay to Thessaloniki I visited the Solidarity Center several times mainly for social support. After 4 days talking on the phone with the smuggler he told us what we had to do, but we were penniless and had to spend some days on the streets, homeless, with the temperature reaching the 3-5 degrees in the evening.

After days on the streets, we traveled to Kilkis, to Evzone, to Macedonia, on foot.
We were so many, young people, old people, families or by ourselves (more or less 200 people). We were walking for hours, until the sunrise. We had to reach a mountain and despite the rain, the rough weather and the fatigue we were very happy. The temperature was low as the evening approached. It was a difficult night, unable to sleep because of the cold. In the morning we started walking again for five hours until we arrived in an abandon small house and stayed there until we heard about our next step. We were asked to pay one quarter of the money we had agreed with the smugglers for the cars to come and get us. After five days on hold with limited food and water, without any news from our smugglers we decided to return to Greece. A way back full of dangers. In our effort to reach the city we were stopped by a gang who stole us and got everything (money, mobiles).

Having lost my legal papers on the way back, we reached Greece homeless and exhausted. The weather got worse and the border exits closed after the death of several refugees and many of us went to Athens to protest requesting legal travel documents. After several weeks protesting in Syndagma, we came to an agreement with the Greek government for legal travel documents as asylum seekers, giving priority to those listed in Syndagma square, but unfortunately I was not able to write my name on the list because some of the protesters took advantage of the situation and listed their friends and relatives.

So by being not included on the priority list I went to the asylum office in Katehaki. Me and my friend were there every morning for two months, but never been picked. The asylum seeker officer used every day 10 names from the list and he randomly chose ten unlisted people. We wore the same jacket every day in order to be remembered, but this never happened.

With no patience or any other choice we tried, once again, to leave the country with the ‘help’ of smugglers. We walked for days and thank God we’ve reached Macedonia then Serbia, Hungary and by train to Germany.

This difficult journey of mine ended here in Germany, I wish all the Syrians in Greece to reach their destination fast and with no dangers.

Thank you’.

X is legally living as asylum seeker in Germany.
Translation from Arabic by Roula Ganoun, 
PRAKSIS translator at the Solidarity Center in Thessaloniki
Translation in English by Aggeliki Papadopoulou