CAIRO- 4 August 2017: A Syrian refugee’s travels and adventures have been trending in global media outlets; however, almost none of the followers of such news are fully aware of the small details that make up the scenes we see.
In a recent 22-minute documentary by the Guardian entitled “Escape from Syria: Rania's Odyssey”, 20-year-old Rania Mustafa Ali documented her tough journey fleeing Kobany until she reaches Austria.
Before she leaves for her journey, Rania walks downs the streets full of rubble and says that for the rest of world this is a war zone, but for her it is home. Her backpack included some pants, a towel, jackets and other clothes, as well as “Game of Thrones” DVDs, nail clippers, a coffee cup, a toothbrush, a notebook and old pictures of her mother. She paid a smuggler $300 to go to Turkey; a trip that she said was difficult. In Turkey, she meets a friend of hers, Ayman, from Raqqa, who joins her for the rest of the journey.
As she was traveling across the Mediterranean, she filmed more than 50 other refugees crammed onto a boat that was meant for only 15 people.
They arrived safely to Greece and had to stay at the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greece-Macedonia border, where the Syrians stay in harsh conditions that include freezing cold weather, heavy rains and muddy ground.
They found the Macedonian border closed by the police, who brutally showered them with teargas.
Rania and Ayman successfully left Greece for Austria with borrowed money and fake Bulgarian IDs. However, at the end, they were caught by the police and sought asylum.
The short documentary was produced and directed by Anders Somme Hammer. It was edited by Mat Heywood for The Guardian and commissioned and executive produced by Michael Tait.
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