Border line...
9:00am
Plan for the day was to cross the border into Syria, meet with the Camp manager of azzaz camp there then make our way to Rai hospital to see the everyday reality of the humanitarian crisis.
We began the day with a briefing with Mohammad Sarmidi who was manager of Gazientep Refugee Camp. He gave us a an incredibly vast picture of the Syrian struggle from someone who has been dealing with the crisis for a long time. His main points were as follows:
1. The Morale: The morale amongst the people has been slowly dropping over time. This is due to a number of factors including the fact that the atrocities have been ongoing for a very long time, longer than any of the other revolutions and because of the lack of help from other countires, and the support of the regime from russia and iran and also due to their dire medical and health needs.
He said the Syrians themselves at the moment fall into 3 groups:
i. Those who are with and support the regime. These are 20% of the people.
ii. Those who are with the revolution. These are 20% of the people.
iii. Those who are neutral or indifferent and don't show support to ever side. Their main concern is security and welfare of themselves and their families. These speople were initially pro revolution but as the conflict prolonged they became more and more sceptical.
2. Humanitarian Crisis: The humanitarian crisis is at the worst it has been throughout the whole revolution. There around 200 people killed and around 400 injuries every day. These are just the figures we know about, there are many more who have been detained that we do not know about. For example recently 200 people were detained and later found in a river. 60% of the country has been freed from Assad but they do not even have the basic essentials of life. There has been no practicable solution yet to stop the attacks.
3. Refugee crisis: There is a huge refugee crisis. There are nearly 200,000 refugees in turkey alone and recently Turkey has stopped the influx of refugees as the number of people has simply been too much. All of the existing camps are over subscribed and have lack of tents essentials. Of all the countries Turkey has been the most receptive and helpful.
4. Psychological issues: As with many atrocities there have been devastating psychological effects upon the people and especially children. Alongside the medical aid there is a large need for specialists and psychologists to attend to the affected people .
We learnt how the regime use tactics like bombing a school or a bakery then when the people gather around the hospital they shell the hospital. And we were also given a Briefing about what to expect in the day.. But really this briefing was not enough for what we were about to see..
We set off bright and and early towards the Turkish / Syria border. As we arrived we drove past Killis Baba el salama. Killis is one of the large camps inside turkey and was set up only following the influx of refugees. It's is a huge camp with its own masjid and is very well built and maintained, we could see large trucks unloading flour and aid and the camp itself was clean. There was a huge minaret rising from the centre of the camp and as we arrived we heared the azaan ringing out. It it wasn't for the barricade topped with barbed wire that surroundedne camp, you wouldn't have thought it was a refugee camp.
As we came closer to the border we were greeted by a huge turkey flag which was side by side with a free Syria flag. Both swaying in the wind, showing solidarity and strength. It was a reassuring sign for what we were about to see... With a bismillah and after going through the necessary formalities, we took our first step into Syria...
Part 2 to follow... www.ateeqsalik.wordpress.com
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