Family recalls route out of Syria
Mustafa Alhajy shares how he, his wife
and four children left the country as war escalated
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Friday, December 23, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Mustafa Alhajy was hesitant to show the YouTube video of a close family member's death in Syria.
Mustafa, left, Diya, Muhammad, Khaled, Fida and Zeina Alhajy sit at Javaroma. The family became refugees when the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011. In October, they were the first refugees to arrive in Yellowknife. - Robin Grant/NNSL photo |
The two-minute long video is extremely graphic, but shows the fatal injuries his nephew, Rayan, suffered as a result of a 2011 rocket attack near his family home in Idlib, a northwestern city near the border of Turkey. In the video, a crowd of people surround him in a futile effort to stop the bleeding.
"His nephew's pieces were everywhere," said Rami Kassem, who translated for Mustafa during a Yellowknifer interview. "He said he had to pick his flesh off the wall."
Witnessing his young nephew's death was the tipping point that made Mustafa, his wife and four children flee Syria to Lebanon that year.
They weren't alone.
It is estimated that over 5,000 refugees escaped across the border into Lebanon in 2011.
Before, Mustafa said they had been living in Damascus, working at the family's grocery store.
"He and his family were fine, everything was fine," Kassem said, translating.
But then the protests started and Mustafa said the country started sliding into civil war.
It happened as Syrians were expressing support across the country for the Arab Spring in March 2011.
What started out as peaceful protests ended in a government crackdown led by President Bashar al-Assad. Hundreds of protesters were killed and many more were imprisoned.
In July of that year, military defectors formed the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group aimed at overthrowing the government.
Seeing the situation worsening in the capital city, Mustafa said the family moved back to his hometown of Idlib. But they witnessed more violence and could tell it was escalating there too.
After his nephew was killed, and then his brother-in-law, he said the family decided to leave.
Fortunately, Mustafa had worked in Lebanon on and off for the past 10 years and had family they could stay with, he said.
For five years, the family lived in their relative's basement as refugees.
One Sunday, Mustafa said he was approached by a man claiming to be from the United Nations. He said the man said he and his family should come to the United Nations office nearby and apply to live in Canada.
"He thought somebody was pranking them by asking them to come on a Sunday," Kassem translated. "On Sunday everything is closed, so how would a United Nations office be open? So he thought the guy was lying."
However, Mustafa said he had nothing to lose by checking it out and he said he arrived to an office with a line up of people applying to leave Lebanon for various western countries.
After many delays and extensive medical and background checks that took almost a year, the family began their journey to Canada.
The family, he said, misses Syria because the "country means something to them."
Mustafa said he remembers when it was peaceful and beautiful "but tragedy happens and conflicts start."
President of the Islamic Society of Yellowknife Nazim Awan was one member of the group who worked to bring the Alhajy family to Yellowknife.
He said he follows international affairs closely and as a community leader, feels obligated to help people in need.
"It is a humanitarian crisis," Awan said. "We have to do our part, whether it is at the international or national level. If we can make a difference, we should. It is a duty, not only as a Muslim but as a Canadian."
He said he felt inspired with how quickly the Yellowknife community mobilized to help out Syrian refugees.
"It is really heartwarming when people are engaged with these issues and have ideas about how to make a difference," he said.
Since the conflict began five years ago, more than 450,000 Syrians have been killed in the fighting.
More than a million people have been injured and more than 12 million Syrians have been displaced from their homes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based information office that documents human rights abuses in the country.
