Sara Abdalrachman

“Children need safety. They shouldn’t have to watch people getting killed.

That’s why we wanted to get away from Syria and started to save as much money as we could for the journey. We had heard and read a lot about Austria – that it is a good country to live in and that Austrian people are nice. We wanted to take our daughter Malak and our unborn baby to Austria so they could grow up there, learn German and have a safe future. Austria became our dream.

When Assad’s army wanted Rakan to fight for them, we knew the time had come and we left immediately.”

Rakan Al Khmran

“The scariest part of the journey was getting across the sea from Turkey to Greece because only Rakan knows how to swim and the boat was rocking so much. After that, we had to walk to Macedonia and then to Serbia, which was very exhausting for Sara because she is pregnant. Especially in Serbia, she was crying a lot because she was so afraid of the Mafia. She feared for Malak and our unborn child and she also got sick. When our money ran out in Serbia, it was the worst thing that could have happened. How were we supposed to get out of that country now?

Then, a miracle happened. A group of people from Syria saw us and decided to help. Every one of them gave us a little bit of money. Some gave five Euros, some more, and in the end we had the 1,800 Euros we needed to get across the border. We don’t know where these people are now, but we think about them a lot and are so thankful to have met them.

With their help, we were able to reach Austria and are so glad to be here. Our baby will be a girl and we are praying for her to have the best life.”