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Every day, I listen to harrowing stories of people fleeing for their lives,
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across dangerous borders and unfriendly seas.
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But there's one story that keeps me awake at night,
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and it's about Doaa.
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A Syrian refugee, 19 years old,
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she was living a grinding existence in Egypt working day wages.
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Her dad was constantly thinking of his thriving business back in Syria
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that had been blown to pieces by a bomb.
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And the war that drove them there was still raging in its fourth year.
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And the community that once welcomed them there
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had become weary of them.
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And one day, men on motorcycles tried to kidnap her.
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Once an aspiring student thinking only of her future,
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now she was scared all the time.
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But she was also full of hope,
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because she was in love with a fellow Syrian refugee named Bassem.
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Bassem was also struggling in Egypt, and he said to Doaa,
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"Let's go to Europe; seek asylum, safety.
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I will work, you can study -- the promise of a new life."
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And he asked her father for her hand in marriage.
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But they knew to get to Europe they had to risk their lives,
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traveling across the Mediterranean Sea,
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putting their hands in smugglers', notorious for their cruelty.
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And Doaa was terrified of the water.
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She always had been. She never learned to swim.
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It was August that year, and already 2,000 people had died
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trying to cross the Mediterranean,
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but Doaa knew of a friend who had made it all the way to Northern Europe,
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and she thought, "Maybe we can, too."
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So she asked her parents if they could go,
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and after a painful discussion, they consented,
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and Bassem paid his entire life savings -- 2,500 dollars each --
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to the smugglers.
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It was a Saturday morning when the call came,
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and they were taken by bus to a beach, hundreds of people on the beach.
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They were taken then by small boats onto an old fishing boat,
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500 of them crammed onto that boat,
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300 below, 500 above.
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There were Syrians, Palestinians, Africans, Muslims and Christians,
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100 children, including Sandra -- little Sandra, six years old --
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and Masa, 18 months.
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There were families on that boat, crammed together shoulder to shoulder,
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feet to feet.
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Doaa was sitting with her legs crammed up to her chest,
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Bassem holding her hand.
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Day two on the water, they were sick with worry
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and sick to their stomachs from the rough sea.
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Day three, Doaa had a premonition.
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And she said to Bassem, "I fear we're not going to make it.
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I fear the boat is going to sink."
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And Bassem said to her, "Please be patient.
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We will make it to Sweden, we will get married
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and we will have a future."
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Day four, the passengers were getting agitated.
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They asked the captain, "When will we get there?"
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He told them to shut up, and he insulted them.
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He said, "In 16 hours we will reach the shores of Italy."
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They were weak and weary.
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Soon they saw a boat approach -- a smaller boat, 10 men on board,
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who started shouting at them, hurling insults,
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throwing sticks, asking them to all disembark
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and get on this smaller, more unseaworthy boat.
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The parents were terrified for their children,
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and they collectively refused to disembark.
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So the boat sped away in anger,
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and a half an hour later, came back
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and started deliberately ramming a hole in the side of Doaa's boat,
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just below where she and Bassem were sitting.
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And she heard how they yelled,
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"Let the fish eat your flesh!"
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And they started laughing as the boat capsized and sank.
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The 300 people below deck were doomed.
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Doaa was holding on to the side of the boat as it sank,
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and watched in horror as a small child was cut to pieces by the propeller.
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Bassem said to her, "Please let go,
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or you'll be swept in and the propeller will kill you, too."
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And remember -- she can't swim.
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But she let go and she started moving her arms and her legs,
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thinking, "This is swimming."
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And miraculously, Bassem found a life ring.
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It was one of those child's rings
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that they use to play in swimming pools and on calm seas.
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And Doaa climbed onto the ring,
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her arms and her legs dangling by the side.
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Bassem was a good swimmer,
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so he held her hand and tread water.
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Around them there were corpses.
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Around 100 people survived initially,
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and they started coming together in groups, praying for rescue.
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But when a day went by and no one came,
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some people gave up hope,
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and Doaa and Bassem watched
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as men in the distance took their life vests off and sank into the water.
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One man approached them with a small baby perched on his shoulder,
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nine months old -- Malek.
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He was holding onto a gas canister to stay afloat, and he said to them,
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"I fear I am not going to survive.
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I'm too weak. I don't have the courage anymore."
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And he handed little Malek over to Bassem and to Doaa,
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and they perched her onto the life ring.
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So now they were three, Doaa, Bassem and little Malek.
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And let me take a pause in this story right here
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and ask the question:
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why do refugees like Doaa take these kinds of risks?
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Millions of refugees are living in exile, in limbo.
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They're living in countries [fleeing] from a war that has been raging
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for four years.
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Even if they wanted to return, they can't.
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Their homes, their businesses,
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their towns and their cities have been completely destroyed.
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This is a UNESCO World Heritage City,
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Homs, in Syria.
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So people continue to flee into neighboring countries,
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and we build refugee camps for them in the desert.
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Hundreds of thousands of people live in camps like these,
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and thousands and thousands more, millions, live in towns and cities.
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And the communities,
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the neighboring countries that once welcomed them
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with open arms and hearts
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are overwhelmed.
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There are simply not enough schools, water systems, sanitation.
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Even rich European countries could never handle such an influx
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without massive investment.
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The Syria war has driven almost four million people over the borders,
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but over seven million people are on the run inside the country.
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That means that over half the Syrian population
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has been forced to flee.
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Back to those neighboring countries hosting so many.
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They feel that the richer world has done too little to support them.
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And days have turned into months, months into years.
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A refugee's stay is supposed to be temporary.
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Back to Doaa and Bassem in the water.
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It was their second day, and Bassem was getting very weak.
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And now it was Doaa's turn to say to Bassem,
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"My love, please hold on to hope, to our future. We will make it."
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And he said to her,
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"I'm sorry, my love, that I put you in this situation.
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I have never loved anyone as much as I love you."
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And he released himself into the water,
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and Doaa watched as the love of her life drowned before her eyes.
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Later that day,
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a mother came up to Doaa with her small 18-month-old daughter, Masa.
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This was the little girl I showed you in the picture earlier,
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with the life vests.
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Her older sister Sandra had just drowned,
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and her mother knew she had to do everything in her power
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to save her daughter.
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And she said to Doaa, "Please take this child.
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Let her be part of you. I will not survive."
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And then she went away and drowned.
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So Doaa, the 19-year-old refugee who was terrified of the water,
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who couldn't swim,
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found herself in charge of two little baby kids.
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And they were thirsty and they were hungry and they were agitated,
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and she tried her best to amuse them,
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to sing to them, to say words to them from the Quran.
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Around them, the bodies were bloating and turning black.
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The sun was blazing during the day.
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At night, there was a cold moon and fog.
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It was very frightening.
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On the fourth day in the water, this is how Doaa probably looked
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on the ring with her two children.
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A woman came on the fourth day and approached her
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and asked her to take another child --
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a little boy, just four years old.
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When Doaa took the little boy and the mother drowned,
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she said to the sobbing child,
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"She just went away to find you water and food."
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But his heart soon stopped,
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and Doaa had to release the little boy into the water.
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Later that day,
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she looked up into the sky with hope,
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because she saw two planes crossing in the sky.
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And she waved her arms, hoping they would see her,
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but the planes were soon gone.
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But that afternoon, as the sun was going down,
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she saw a boat, a merchant vessel.
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And she said, "Please, God, let them rescue me."
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She waved her arms and she felt like she shouted for about two hours.
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And it had become dark, but finally the searchlights found her
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and they extended a rope,
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astonished to see a woman clutching onto two babies.
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They pulled them onto the boat, they got oxygen and blankets,
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and a Greek helicopter came to pick them up
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and take them to the island of Crete.
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But Doaa looked down and asked, "What of Malek?"
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And they told her the little baby did not survive --
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she drew her last breath in the boat's clinic.
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But Doaa was sure that as they had been pulled up onto the rescue boat,
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that little baby girl had been smiling.
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Only 11 people survived that wreck, of the 500.
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There was never an international investigation into what happened.
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There were some media reports about mass murder at sea,
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a terrible tragedy,
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but that was only for one day.
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And then the news cycle moved on.
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Meanwhile, in a pediatric hospital on Crete,
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little Masa was on the edge of death.
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She was really dehydrated. Her kidneys were failing.
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Her glucose levels were dangerously low.
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The doctors did everything in their medical power to save them,
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and the Greek nurses never left her side,
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holding her, hugging her, singing her words.
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My colleagues also visited and said pretty words to her in Arabic.
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Amazingly, little Masa survived.
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And soon the Greek press started reporting about the miracle baby,
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who had survived four days in the water without food or anything to drink,
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and offers to adopt her came from all over the country.
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And meanwhile, Doaa was in another hospital on Crete,
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thin, dehydrated.
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An Egyptian family took her into their home as soon as she was released.
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And soon word went around about Doaa's survival,
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and a phone number was published on Facebook.
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Messages started coming in.
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"Doaa, do you know what happened to my brother?
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My sister? My parents? My friends? Do you know if they survived?"
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One of those messages said,
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"I believe you saved my little niece, Masa."
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And it had this photo.
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This was from Masa's uncle,
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a Syrian refugee who had made it to Sweden with his family
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and also Masa's older sister.
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Soon, we hope, Masa will be reunited with him in Sweden,
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and until then, she's being cared for in a beautiful orphanage in Athens.
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And Doaa? Well, word went around about her survival, too.
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And the media wrote about this slight woman,
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and couldn't imagine how she could survive all this time
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under such conditions in that sea,
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and still save another life.
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The Academy of Athens, one of Greece's most prestigious institutions,
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gave her an award of bravery,
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and she deserves all that praise,
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and she deserves a second chance.
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But she wants to still go to Sweden.
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She wants to reunite with her family there.
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She wants to bring her mother and her father and her younger siblings
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away from Egypt there as well,
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and I believe she will succeed.
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She wants to become a lawyer or a politician
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or something that can help fight injustice.
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She is an extraordinary survivor.
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But I have to ask:
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what if she didn't have to take that risk?
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Why did she have to go through all that?
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Why wasn't there a legal way for her to study in Europe?
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Why couldn't Masa have taken an airplane to Sweden?
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Why couldn't Bassem have found work?
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Why is there no massive resettlement program for Syrian refugees,