Refugee recounts journey from Syria to Steinbach

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This article was published 23/06/2019 (1758 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Standing below deck on an over-crowded boat floating somewhere between Libya and Italy on the Mediterranean Sea, Saif Asi struggled to breathe, and wondered if his journey to freedom would cost him his life.

Today, that dire plight is an increasingly distant memory for the 24-year-old Syrian refugee, who resides in Steinbach with his parents and six younger brothers. A seventh sibling, a sister, resides in Germany.

Sponsored by Grace Mennonite Church, Asi arrived in Canada in November 2017—just as temperatures were falling to depths he’d never before experienced, he said with a smile.

Asi was one of several newcomers to Steinbach who shared their story of displacement and settlement at a recent event hosted by MHV called “Journey to a New Homeland: Stories of Migration Past and Present.”

The event complemented the museum’s new Russländer exhibit, which opened last month and includes artifacts from each of the newcomers, as a way of prompting parallels to the present.

Asi donated photographs of his perilous sea voyage to Europe.

“In that boat, I couldn’t take anything except pictures,” he recalled.

His journey to Canada from war-torn Syria spans five and a half years and seven countries, and included travels by air, sea, rail, and car.

Syria’s ongoing refugee crisis stems from a many-sided civil war that erupted in 2011. Hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions displaced by the conflict.

In 2012, amid escalating violence, Asi’s parents told him to flee the country to avoid the mandatory military service that would commence when Asi turned 18.

Asi and his cousin boarded a plane to Egypt, then drove across the border to neighbouring Libya. They would stay in the North African nation for two years. Asi found work as a self-employed electrician.

In time Libya, too, became politically unstable. Asi recalled seeing guns brandished in the street. He sometimes wasn’t paid for work he completed.

One day while driving, he was stopped by two men and robbed.

“They took everything that I had, money and phones,” and threatened to kill him if he told anyone.

Longing for safety and his family, he learned of the possibility of European asylum. A friend had managed to arrive in the Netherlands. He and his cousin decided freedom was worth the risk.

They bought lifejackets and purchased night passage from traffickers, then waited for more than a week for their turn to board.

“It was hard to eat, hard to sleep, waiting for the boat. Every day they would say, ‘We will take you tomorrow.’”

Eventually, they were crammed onto the 50-foot vessel with 250 other passengers.

“There were too many people on that boat. We couldn’t move,” Asi said.

Below deck, heat radiated from the engine bay, overpowering the single small opening that was their only source of fresh air. Asi’s cousin quickly became ill.

Four hours into the eight-hour journey, they were allowed above deck, where they soon spotted an Italian commercial ship. The crew allowed them to board only after the smaller vessel began to sink.

“When we got on the big ship, we felt we were back to life,” Asi said. “We were so happy that we found someone who could help us.”

Red Cross aid workers received them on Italy’s southern shore, and sent them to a refugee camp.

“They said, ‘Relax here,’ but we couldn’t feel comfortable because we were fearing that maybe they would take us back to Libya.”

Asi and his cousin joined a group that fled the camp at night in search of the nearest train station. Once aboard a train, they hid, as they had no immigration papers.

Reaching France, they ran out of money and slept near a train station while they waited for Asi’s parents to send more. Finally, in late 2014, they arrived in the Netherlands.

“We were surprised, and we were so happy,” Asi said.

He remained in the country for three years, qualifying for a temporary resident card, renting a room, and learning Dutch.

After a year, his parents called from Lebanon, where they had fled, and told him the United Nations had accepted them for immigration to Canada.

Asi’s first attempt to join them was rejected, but the sponsorship was successful the second time. He reunited with his parents in Toronto’s Pearson Airport, then travelled to Steinbach, where they resided. The cousin with whom he left Syria stayed in the Netherlands.

“I only wanted to join my family,” Asi said. “I was so happy to see them.”

Asi has since heard his childhood home in Homs, a city north of the Syrian capital of Damascus, was destroyed.

As he awaits entry into an electrical engineering program at the University of Manitoba, Asi takes English classes, works out at Fitness Zone, and plays soccer or swims. He also volunteers as an Arabic interpreter at Eastman Immigrant Services.