Last weekend alone, almost 300 people tried to get across the Belarusian-Polish border. What happens to them if they fail? Some still wander the forests and try again, some return to where they wanted to escape so badly. Then they try to get to the EU again, knowing that it's a path through hell.
The Yemeni slum is a place that everyone wants to escape from, but not everyone can. “Everything is missing here. But what can I do? May Allah protect us,” says one resident of the Yemeni slum.
In Aden, in southern Yemen, one million people live in extreme poverty and in the shadow of a civil war that broke out in 2015. That war has devastated the city and the entire country.
– The war lasted several months, militarily, but the economic and social consequences are still being felt. People have no medical care, no chance for education – emphasizes Jakub Kharabshah, head of the Caritas Polska mission in Yemen.
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When the war broke out, Mohamed Badr was 15 years old when he decided to start a new life in Europe – he was 22 years old. He spent 11 days on the Belarusian-Polish border in December 2022. – When we approached the barrier, Polish soldiers beat us with batons. They broke some of their arms. They had dogs with them – says Mohamed Badr.
From Aden through Ankara and Moscow to the Polish-Belarusian border
To get to Poland, Badr had to fly from Aden to Cairo, and from there – with a Russian visa – via Ankara to Moscow. In the Russian capital – after paying a smuggler a thousand dollars – he drove to Minsk. From Minsk – with another smuggler – to the Belarusian-Polish border. Just like 400 of his compatriots this year and 450 last year.
– How much you pay a smuggler depends on how much money you have. If he is not verified, he can charge you 1,500 dollars. The better ones demand twice as much. And most of them are Moroccans – says Mohamed Badr.
A total of a dozen Yemeni citizens died on the Belarusian-Polish border. From hunger, exhaustion, and frost. Those who survived and returned tell stories of hell. Maybe it makes an impression on someone, but only for a moment, because for those who have not yet left here, there is no greater hell than life in Yemen.
“I'm not giving up”
– There are no prospects here. It's getting worse day by day. The war, although in a dormant phase, is still going on – says Professor Gamal M. Nasser Al-Hassany.
Badr already has a plan. Maybe not for this year, but for next year. Another trip to Europe. Again, across the Belarusian-Polish border.
– I'm collecting money. I'm not giving up. I'll try to get to Europe again. I could be in Poland. And if not in Poland, then in any other European country. Just to leave here – emphasizes Mohamed Badr.
There are hundreds of thousands of people like Mohamed Badr. Not just in Aden, not just in Yemen, but throughout the Middle East and Africa.
What could stop the Yemenis from taking the difficult and very risky route to Europe is the prospect of a better tomorrow in their homeland, but the chances of a better tomorrow there are none. The chances are much greater that they will manage to escape to Europe. Others have already managed to do so.
Main image source: TVN24