-
Every day I listen to harrowing stories
-
of people fleeing for their lives
-
across dangerous borders
and unfriendly seas,
-
but there's one story
-
that keeps me awake at night,
-
and it's about Doaa.
-
A Syrian refugee 19 years old,
-
she was living a grinding existence
-
in Egypt working day wages.
-
Her dad was constantly thinking
of his thriving business back in Syria
-
that had been blown to pieces by a bomb,
-
and the war the drove them there
-
was still raging in its fourth year.
-
And the community
that once welcomed them there
-
had become weary of them.
-
And one day, men on motorcycles
tried to kidnap her.
-
Once an aspiring student
thinking only of her future,
-
now she was scared all the time.
-
But she was also full of hope,
-
because she was in love
-
with a fellow Syrian refugee named Bassem.
-
And Bassem was also struggling in Egypt,
-
and he said to Doaa,
-
"Let's go to Europe, seek asylum, safety.
-
I will work, you can study.
-
The promise of a new life."
-
And he asked her father
for her hand in marriage.
-
But they knew to get to Europe
-
they had to risk their lives
-
traveling across the Mediterranean Sea,
-
putting their hands in smugglers
-
notorious for their cruelty.
-
And Doaa was terrified of the water.
-
She always had been.
She never learned to swim.
-
It was August that year,
and already 2,000 people had died
-
trying to cross the Mediterranean,
-
but Doaa knew of a friend who had made it
all the way to Northern Europe,
-
and she thought, maybe we can too.
-
So she asked her parents if they could go,
-
and after a painful discussion,
they consented,
-
and Bassem paid his entire life's savings,
2,500 dollars each, to the smugglers.
-
It was a Saturday morning
when the call came,
-
and they were taken by bus to a beach,
hundreds of people on the beach.
-
They were taken then by small boats
onto an old fishing boat,
-
500 of them crammed onto that boat,
-
300 below, 500 above.
-
There were Syrians, Palestinians,
Africans, Muslims, and Christians,
-
100 children,
-
including Sandra, little Sandra,
six years old,
-
and Massa, 18 months.
-
There were families on that boat,
crammed together shoulder to shoulder,
-
feet to feet.
-
Doaa was sitting with her legs
crammed up to her chest,
-
Bassem holding her hand.
-
Day two on the water,
they were sick with worry
-
and sick to their stomachs
from the rough sea.
-
Day three, Doaa had a premonition,
-
and she said to Bassem,
"I fear we're not going to make it.
-
I fear the boat is going to sink."
-
And Bassem said to her,
"Please be patient.
-
We will make it to Sweden.
We will get married,
-
and we will have a future."
-
Day four, the passengers
were getting agitated.
-
They asked the captain,
"When will we get there?"
-
He told them to shut up,
and he insulted them.
-
He said, "In 16 hours
we will reach the shores of Italy."
-
They were weak and weary,
-
and soon they saw a boat approach,
a smaller boat, 10 men on board,
-
started shouting at them, hurling insults,
-
throwing sticks, asking them
to all disembark
-
and get on this smaller,
more unseaworthy boat.
-
The parents were terrified
for their children,
-
and they collectively
refused to disembark.
-
So the boat sped away in anger,
-
and a half an hour later came back
-
and started deliberately ramming a hole
in the side of Doaa's boat,
-
just below where she
and Bassem were sitting,
-
and she heard how they yelled,
-
"Let the fish eat your flesh."
-
And they started laughing
as the boat capsized and sank.
-
The 300 people belowdeck were doomed.
-
Doa was holding on to the side of the boat
-
as it sank
-
and watched in horror
-
as a small child was cut to pieces
by the propeller.
-
Bassem said to her, "Please let go
or you'll be swept in
-
and the propeller will kill you too."
-
And remember, she can't swim,
-
but she let go and she started moving
her arms and her legs,
-
thinking, "This is swimming,"
and miraculously
-
Bassem found a life ring.
-
It was one of those child's rings
-
that they used to play
in swimming pools and on calm seas
-
and Doaa climbed onto the ring,
-
her arms and her legs
dangling by the side.
-
Bassem was a good swimmer,
so he held her hand
-
and tread water.
-
Around them there were corpses.
-
Around 100 people survived initially
-
and they started coming together in groups
-
praying for rescue,
-
but when a day went by and no one came,
-
some people gave up hope,
-
and Doaa and Bassem watched
-
as men in the distance
-
took their life vests off
-
and sank into the water.
-
One man approached them
with a small baby perched on his shoulder,
-
nine months old, Malek.
-
He was holding onto a gas canister
to stay afloat,
-
and he said to them,
"I fear I am not going to survive.
-
I'm too weak. I don't have
the courage anymore."
-
And he handed little Malek
over to Bassem and to Doaa,
-
and they perched her onto the life rig.
-
So now they were three,
Doaa, Bassem, and little Malek.
-
And let me take a pause
in this story right here
-
and ask the question:
-
why do refugees like Doaa
take these kinds of risks?
-
Millions of refugees are living
in exile, in limbo.
-
They're living in countries
from a war that has been raging
-
for four years.
-
Even if they wanted to return, they can't.
-
Their homes, their businesses,
-
their towns and their cities
have been completely destroyed.
-
This is a UNESCO World Heritage City,
-
Homs, in Syria.
-
So people continue to flee
into neighboring countries,
-
and we build refugee camps
for them in the desert.
-
Hundreds of thousands of people
live in camps like these,
-
and thousands and thousands more,
millions, live in towns and cities.
-
And the communities,
the neighboring countries
-
that once welcomed them
with open arms and hearts
-
are overwhelmed.
-
There are simply not enough schools,
water systems, sanitation.
-
Even rich European countries
could never handle such an influx
-
without massive investment.
-
The Syria war has driven almost
four million people over the borders,
-
but over seven million people
are on the run inside the country.
-
That means that over half
the Syrian population
-
has been forced to flee.
-
And back to those neighboring countries
hosting so many.
-
They feel that the richer world
has done too little to support them.
-
And days have turned into months,
months into years.
-
A refugee's stay is supposed
to be temporary.
-
Back to Doaa and Bassem in the water.
-
It was their second day
and Bassem was getting very weak,
-
and now it was Doaa's turn
to say to Bassem,
-
"My love, please hold on to hope,
to our future. We will make it."
-
And he said to her,
-
"I'm sorry, my love,
that I put you in this situation.
-
I have never loved anyone
as much as I love you."
-
And he released himself into the water,
-
and Doaa watched as the love of her life
-
drowned before her eyes.
-
Later that day,
-
a mother came up to Doaa
-
with her small 18-month
old daughter, Masa.
-
This was the little girl
I showed you in the picture earlier,
-
with the life vests.
-
Her older sister Sandra had just drowned,
-
and her mother knew she had
to do everything in her power
-
to save her daughter,
-
and she said to Doaa,
"Please take this child.
-
Let her be part of you.
I will not survive."
-
And then she went away and drowned.
-
So Doaa, the 19-year old refugee
who was terrified of the water,
-
who couldn't swim,
-
found herself in charge
of two little baby kids,
-
and they were thirsty and they were hungry
and they were agitated,
-
and she tried her best to abuse them,
to sing to them,
-
to say words to them from the Quran.
-
Around them, the bodies were bloating
and turning black.
-
The sun was blazing during the day.
-
At night, there was a cold moon and fog.
-
It was very frightening.
-
On the fourth day in the water,
this is how Doaa probably looked
-
on the ring with her two children.
-
A woman came on the fourth day
and approached her
-
and asked her to take another child,
-
a little boy, just four years old.
-
When Doa took the little boy,
and the mother drowned,
-
she said to the sobbing child,
-
"She just went away
to find you water and food,"
-
but his heart soon stopped
and Doaa had to release the little boy
-
into the water.
-
Later that day,
-
she looked up into the sky with hope
-
because she saw two planes
crossing in the sky,
-
and she waved her arms
-
hoping they would see her,
but the planes were soon gone.
-
But that afternoon,
as the sun was going down,
-
she saw a boat,
-
a merchant vessel.
-
And she said, "Please God
let them rescue me."
-
She waved her arms and she felt
like she shouted for about two hours,
-
and it had become dark,
but finally the searchlights found her,
-
and they extended a rope
-
astonished to see a woman
clutching onto two babies.
-
They pulled them onto the boat,
they got oxygen and blankets,
-
and a Greek helicopter came
to pick them up
-
and take them to the island of Crete.
-
But Doaa looked down and asked,
"What of Malek?"
-
And they told her
the little baby did not survive.
-
She drew her last breath
in the boat's clinic.
-
But Doaa was sure
-
that as they had been pulled
up onto the rescue boat,
-
that little baby girl had been smiling.
-
Only 11 people survived that wreck
-
of the 500.
-
There was never an international
investigation into what happened.
-
There was some media reports
about mass murder at sea,
-
a terrible tragedy,
-
but that was only for one day,
-
and then the news cycle moved on.
-
Meanwhile, in a pediatric
hospital on Crete,
-
little Masa was on the edge of death.
-
She was really dehydrated.
Her kidneys were failing.
-
Her glucose levels were dangerously low.
-
The doctors did everything
in their medical power to save them,
-
and the Greek nurses never left her side,
-
holding her, hugging her,
singing her words.
-
My colleagues also visited
and said pretty words to her in Arabic,
-
and amazingly, little Masa survived.
-
And soon the Greek press started reporting
-
about the miracle baby
-
who had survived four days in the water
without food or anything to drink,
-
and offers to adopt her came
from all over the country.
-
And meanwhile, Doaa
was in another hospital on Crete,
-
thin, dehydrated.
-
An Egyptian family
took her into their home
-
as soon as she was released,
-
and soon word went around
about Doaa's survival,
-
and a phone number
was published on Facebook.
-
Messages started coming in.
-
"Doaa, do you know
what happened to my brother?
-
My sister? My parents? My friends?
Do you know if they survived?"
-
One of those messages said,
-
"I believe you saved
my little niece Masa."
-
And it had this photo.
-
This was from Masa's uncle,
-
a Syrian refugee who had made it
to Sweden with his family
-
and also Masa's older sister.
-
Soon, we hope, Masa
will be reunited with him in Sweden,
-
and until then she's being cared for
in a beautiful orphanage in Athens.
-
And Doaa, well, word went around
about her survival too,
-
and the media wrote
about this slight woman
-
and couldn't imagine how she
could survive all this time
-
under such conditions in that sea
-
and still save another life.
-
The Academy of Athens, one of Greece's
most prestigious institutions,
-
gave her an award of bravery,
-
and she deserves all that praise,
-
and she deserves a second chance.
-
But she wants to still go to Sweden.
-
She wants to reunite
with her family there.
-
She wants to bring her mother
and her father and her younger siblings
-
away from Egypt there as well,
-
and I believe she will succeed.
-
She wants to become a lawyer
or a politician
-
or something that can help
fight injustice.
-
She is an extraordinary survivor.
-
But I have to ask:
-
what if she didn't have to take that risk?
-
Why did she have to go through all that?
-
Why wasn't there a legal way
for her to study in Europe?
-
Why couldn't Masa
have taken an airplane to Sweden?
-
Why couldn't Bassem have found work?
-
Why is there no massive resettlement
program for Syrian refugees,
-
the victims of the worst war of our times?
-
The world did this for the Vietnamese
in the 1970s. Why not now?
-
Why is there so little investment
in the neighboring countries
-
hosting so many refugees?
-
And why, the root question,
-
is so little being done
-
to stop the wars,
-
the persecution, and the poverty
-
that is driving so many people
-
to the shores of Europe?
-
Until these issues are resolved,
-
people will continue to take to the seas
-
and to seek safety and asylum.
-
And what happens next?
-
Well, that is largely Europe's choice.
-
And I understand the public fears.
-
People are worried about their security,
their economies, the changes of culture.
-
But is that more important
than saving human lives?
-
Because there is something
fundamental here
-
that I think overrides the rest,
-
and it is about our common humanity.
-
No person fleeing war or persecution
-
should have to die
-
crossing a sea to reach safety.
-
(Applause)
-
One thing is for sure,
that no refugee
-
would be on those dangerous boats
if they could thrive where they are,
-
and no migrant would take
that dangerous journey
-
if they had enough food
for themselves and their children.
-
And no one would put
their life's savings
-
in the hands of those notorious smugglers
-
if there was a legal way to migrate.
-
So on behalf of little Masa,
-
and on behalf of Doaa,
-
and of Bassem,
-
and of those 500 people
-
who drowned with them,
-
can we make sure that they
did not die in vain?
-
Could we be inspired by what happened
-
and take a stand
-
for a world in which every life matters?
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)
Brian Greene
This transcript was updated on May 16, 2016.
The section beginning at 2:27 now reads:
They were taken then by small boats
onto an old fishing boat,
500 of them crammed onto that boat,
300 below, [200] above.