When Wael and his relatives from Syria climbed into an inflatable boat in the dead of night to cross the sea from Turkey to Greece, they abandoned all their belongings — except their smartphones.
“Our phones and power banks are more important for our journey than anything, even more important than food,” said Wael, a 32-year-old from the devastated Syrian city of Homs who reached the Greek resort island of Kos on Thursday morning last week.
Refugees are using Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members to share photographs and experiences, find smugglers’ telephone numbers, map their route from Turkey to Greece and onward to northern Europe, and to calculate expenses.
Photo: AFP
They use WhatsApp to help the coast guard pinpoint their location once their boats have reached Greek waters and Viber to let their families know they have landed safely.
“We couldn’t take anything with us on the boat, we were all so crammed, but these phones are our most precious belongings,” said Wael, who fled Syria with his green-eyed wife and 12 relatives, including three children.
They are among more than 135,000 refugees and migrants who have arrived in Greece this year, amid Europe’s biggest migration crisis since World War II.
“I wrapped my phone up in a resealable plastic bag to protect it from the water,” the olive-skinned man said.
In Kos, Syrians can be seen taking photographs of each other on the beach using their smartphones and ordering coffee at local cafes, where they can connect to Internet.
“We have taken photos of every step of our journey and sent them to our families,” said Wael’s cousin Raed, 30, adding that social media is a “vital” resource for refugees who have no legal way to reach Europe.
“No one gives us visas, so we have to find alternatives. On Facebook, we Syrians help each other and give each other advice,” said Raed, who left behind his wife and six-month-old, ill daughter.
He hopes to reach Germany and once there apply to be reunified with his family.
“There are entire conversations about which country is best for each person. For instance, Germany is good for family reunification. Sweden is good because you get your papers immediately,” he said, citing information he found on social media.
“That helps each of us set our target,” Raed said, adding that he has looked up photographs and articles online about Berlin — “a nice city where people have rights.”
Aside from Lebanon, where he lived in misery with his family as a refugee for 18 months, Raed had never left Syria before going to Turkey and then Greece.
“Asylum and migration in all Europe” and “Asylum in Sweden, Holland, Norway, Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland” are just two of dozens of Facebook groups that Syrians are operating and using to learn about the perilous, in some cases deadly journey to Europe.
A fourth, closed group called “Bus stop for the lost ones” is one of the most popular, boasting more than 42,000 members. Several Syrians in Kos told reporters they had used this page to map their route.
The questions and ensuing conversations are varied and detailed.
“Guys, in which German federal state should I hand myself over to the police? Where will I get a residence permit the quickest?” one user asked.
“Thank God... We have arrived on the [Greek] island of Chios,” wrote another user, posting a picture of himself and two other young men, one of them flashing a victory sign.
“If I get residence in Germany, will I be allowed to travel to Lebanon?” a third asks.
“Quickly, quickly! I need a hotel in Belgrade, does anyone have any addresses?” a fourth asks.
“Guys, will [US]$2,500 be enough?” another asks.
In the comments section, other users reply.
“Go for it,” a participant tells the user who asked about costs. “I made it with [US]$900.”
“We do this to help each other,” said Said, a 22-year-old computer engineering student from the besieged town of Daraya. “We want to help our fellow Syrians so no one gets cheated by smugglers. So whenever someone finds a smuggler who charges less, his phone number gets passed around.”
Said, who was an activist in the Syrian revolt that later morphed into a savage civil war, said documenting the journey to Europe is as important as detailing the violence at home.
“We Syrians took pictures of every protest and every massacre. We aren’t going to stop sharing our stories now. Migration is part of our story now,” he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in