Last night we waved goodbye to two brothers who have been helping us as translators. It is impossible to do our job without their help, for the last two days they have been amazing finding sick people and explaining to our doctors the symptoms. They are 21 and 17 and their story is heartbreaking. The older brother chose to flee with his younger brother after 20 of his school friends were beheaded on a bus by the taliban. They left behind their 7 year old brother, younger sister and illiterate parents. Shahin knows that leaving home means he will most likely never hear his mothers voice again, his parents don't have any form of communication and are illiterate. When he told me this his eyes filled with tears, "I had to leave, but I will never forget my family". On their last day I spent the morning making sure they had some warm socks and a coat for the horrible journey ahead. On the way back we stopped and had ice cream. Their first ice cream, it was magic.
Seeing the world through the eyes of these two boys was amazing, they are both so loving, so eager to learn and work in this new world that they find themselves in. I tried to explain in the best way the journey that lies ahead, what to expect in Idomeni, the harsh cold of Serbian winters, they just smiled. "There is no Daesh, no Taliban, we are free and happy" even in the face of so much uncertainty THEY were reassuring me!
Goodbye was horrible. It isn't right that their onward journey is life-threatening. The reality of it all became too much at the port, all of us choking back tears to be strong for the both of them whilst they sobbed, two brothers alone in the world, Europe is failing humanity.
Matteo, beautiful, beautiful Matteo.
Grown men sobbing is never easy, but to see that amount of pain in one man, the pain pleading from his eyes, it’s impossible to communicate how useless you feel in that moment. He composed himself and explained that Matteo doesn’t speak anymore. He hadn’t spoken a word since the family had fled from Syria. The father gazed at his beautiful son his broken heart beating with such hope, such longing for him to be better.