Refugee Stories | Borak Albaz

Monday 17th April 2017

This is Borak Albaz.

48 years old (the day we had the interview was his birthday).

He's with his wife and four children - three boys (9, 10 & 13) and a girl (2).

They lived in Aleppo and he worked as a truck mechanic. In 2012 he started University to study law, in 2015 his studies stopped due to the conflict. They lived in an area controlled by the Syrian army, which was also right in the firing line. People didn't go outside for fear of being shot - snipers routinely shooting civilians as they went about their lives - or for fear of being shelled as bombs dropped seemingly at random.

January 2016, it was no longer possible to stay, so with his wife and children they travelled to Izmir before attempting the crossing to Greece. They were there for 15 days, this was due to poor weather conditions and trouble with the police, before they managed to get out to sea.

On the first attempt they were caught by police on the beach, their lifejackets were confiscated, they were interviewed and then returned to town.

The second time they actually got into a boat, but again they were caught, lifejackets taken, interview and again returned to town.

He told me they didn't have to pay smugglers each time they failed. It was a "pay to cross" agreement. They did have to cover the expense of new lifejackets each time they were taken, with a 6 person family it was a lot of money to spend ontop of the money paid for the crossing.

On the third attempt, piling his family into a dinghy with 80 people onboard, they made it out to sea, crossing into Greek waters. Coincidentally they were onboard with a man and his mother who are also residents on Veria camp. The engine broke down en route and the boat had also been damaged. The passengers tried to plug the hole to keep it from sinking as the air escaped and it began to deflate as others were panicking. Fortunately they were picked up by the Greek coastguard and taken to one of the islands where they were given papers and were then moved to the mainland.

February 2016, Borak and his family made it to Idomeni where they stayed in a tent waiting to cross the border. They were transferred to Veria camp after a short period of time and have been here ever since.

Today, Borak and his family leave Veria camp. They will travel to Athens before being relocated - he thinks it's likely they'll go to Germany where his brother is.

There's a part to this story I didn't tell yet...

A couple of months ago a helicopter passed overhead. Borak was with me at the time and he pointed toward it before speaking in Arabic, tears were running down his face. He speaks limited English and I speak the same amount of Arabic. I couldn't understand what he was trying to say but I wished so badly that I could. At the end of this interview I asked him to tell me that story. We had a translator and I felt it was the right time to ask. He told me to turn off the video before the tears came again. He couldn't speak. I don't cry in front of residents however I couldn't help it this time.

I knew what was coming, I told him he didn't have to tell me, but he wanted to share it.

After composing himself he told me.

Borak had a fifth child. She would be the eldest, Natali, she was born in 1997.

In 2014 he found her after a a bomb hit a building she had been in, she wasn't alive. They've named their youngest daughter after her, I can't imagine how often this reminds him of her. I feel so selfish as tears fill my eyes as I'm writing this. I didn't have to go through that pain, to experience this.

Later on he came back and proudly showed mum and I pictures of her. He also shared old pictures of his family and himself. Amazing that through all this he had kept them all in such good condition. Mum laminated them to protect them from fading or being damaged...

• edit: They have since had confirmation that they will go to Finland. A surprise for them but by no means a negative. They are waiting in Athens until they are called to travel.

• Ps. I know I'm already breaking the 350 word rule, but I think the refugee stories are an exception.