“We want to go to Germany. And now only hope and the help provided by the Belarusian authorities help us to survive ”. Refugees about their stay at the border and the betrayal of Europe
03.01.2022
News
Migrants, despite many days of waiting, do not lose hope for a successful outcome.
When we talked with the people who will be discussed in this
publication, it was still morning, and our interlocutors were in a
spontaneous camp. Shortly thereafter, events at the border picked up the
pace. All the refugees were relocated to the logistics center, hot
meals were brought up there, a caravan drove up, and the vaccination
station began to work. Journalists everywhere needed to be in time.
But by the evening, the morning conversation did not lose its
relevance. We suggest reading about it now, when people are settling for
the night in the camp. And before going to bed, a person, as you know,
thinks about the innermost.
Morning. The clock is 10:45. Bonfires and tents are still smoldering
at the Polish border. There is a special atmosphere here. Everywhere
screams and crying of children, it even seems as if the air itself is
saturated with despair of people. We pass deep into the camp. I notice a
short woman with curly hair. She, like everyone else here, is trying to
warm up by the fire, wrapping herself in a blanket. The woman's name is
Amal, she is from Iraq and has been at the Polish border with her
husband and family for over a week.
- Sleeping here outside is already simply unbearable. Our clothes
are all wet after Polish water cannons, which further aggravates our
situation. Jackets and sweaters no longer keep us warm. We had to throw
blankets into the fire tonight to keep warm. This is very, very
terrible. I heard that yesterday your President spoke with Angela
Merkel.
I am sure that your government wants to help us and is helping us with
food and drink, but I no longer trust Germany. We have been here for
more than a week, and if Germany really needed us, it would have taken
measures long ago to transport us to the European Union. After
everything we've gone through, I no longer believe Frau Merkel, says
Amal.
We pass further. Not far from the tent where the Amal family spends
the night, I notice an oriental-looking man with a small child in his
arms. Mamata is 29 years old, he, like other refugees, has been at the
Belarusian-Polish border for more than a week now, hoping to get to
Europe.
- I'm here with my family. My wife, nine-month-old daughter,
brother, sister and mother are forced to live in difficult conditions.
It is very difficult for my mother here. She is a person of age, and she
simply cannot endure anymore. I, like other refugees, tried to cross
the border, but the Polish soldiers dealt with us very cruelly. They
used strong jets of water, sprayed some kind of liquid into their faces,
after which their eyes hurt badly.
I have been in Belarus for 45 days. During this time, the weather has
changed a lot. At the present time it is very difficult to sleep here on
earth. It is cold at night, the north wind blows. It is especially
difficult for young children and the elderly. My daughter does not sleep
at all at night, she constantly cries. I just don't know how to answer
her. Yesterday the whole camp was jubilant at the news that Lukashenka
was talking to Germany. I really want to believe that something will
change, but lately I have started to lose heart more and more often. Now
only hope and the help provided by the Belarusian authorities help us
to survive.
Hopes for a better future 25-year-old Kurdish Mohammad Taha. The guy
has been at the Polish border for 10 days and admits that if the world
community cannot migrants, they can die here.
- We really hope that Europe will help us and take it to itself.
This is the biggest dream not only of mine, but of all migrants here. I
only slept three hours during the night. You can't even imagine how cold
it is. More and more often I begin to think that my health will not
stand it any longer. But I know that there are people here who are many
times more difficult than me, for example, there is a man in a camp who
has no legs. I can't even imagine how he feels here. I swear if we don't
get help we might die here. But there is still hope. After yesterday's
conversation between Lukashenka and Merkel, we all expect that something
will change.