The father’s name is Hussein al Monsour, 47. I met him and his family in Serbia last night, at a camp near the Hungarian border.
With him are his wife Wadha Issa, Wotran (19), Majid (10), Ahmed (12), Bian (15) and Wotran (19).
They left Turkey on September 1st. (When they left Syria I’m not sure.) They got to Bala, Greece, then to Samos, Athenia, Macedonia, Belgrade and to the Serbian camp. He wants to get to Sweden where he has a friend.
Hussein is a baker—”I am technician with bread,” he tells me; but that’s not what he means. Everybody wants to claim to be an engineer or doctor so their refugee claims, they think, can be rushed.
“Syria good country. Syria dead. Syria all gone.”
When I tell him I’m from Canada he says he wants to come to Canada. I tell him it’s a hard life in Canada and the weather is very cold. He claims Wotran speaks a little French but she has only a few words. Together the family has only a few words of English.
They have gone 20 days without sleep, he says.
Andrew Faiz is traveling with the Moderator of the General Assembly to Hungary, Romania and Ukraine.
