Refugee:
She told me to call her Mahad; and then a little later as we got to know each other she told me her real name, with apologies. But she insisted I use Mahad.
I walked with her from the Masonmagyarovar train station to the Heigyeshalom border crossing about three kilometres away, on a windy and chilly September afternoon today.
Mahad (yellow jacket) is an English school teacher from Syria. Her 24 year old son was involved in student politics. He made some comments about the ruling government. He disappeared. She was asked after a while to identify him at a hospital. She never did find a body but was given a sheet of paper confirming he was dead.
Her husband is Palestinian, which she told me is a very dirty thing in Syria. They have one daughter.
A while ago her brother in law (that’s her sister on the far left) was shot in the street. The sister has one son; she told me they have been alone with no money and living in fear for a long while.
After the son was killed, the family packed up their few belongings and left. They’ve been moving for 16 days, having travelled through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia.
They were placed on a train at the Croatian border with Hungary and brought near the Austrian border.
She borrowed my phone to call her brother in Syria. And then the five of them headed off to Austria where they hope to settle.
Andrew Faiz is writing from Eastern Europe where he is visiting refugees and travelling with Rev. Karen Horst, Moderator of the 2015 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. These images and reflections were originally posted on our Facebook page.
