1 A BEAUTIFUL ANIMATION OF A HARROWING STORY -

2 BBC NEWS
3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0HWYcFlY-8
4
5 My name is Iyad Faroud Al Rousan, I am
6 Palestinian. We lived in Damascus in the
7 (inaudible) camp.
8 Me, my wife, my sons - 20 year-old malam and
9 young Muhammad just ten. I was born
10 there. I lived all my life there, then the war
11 came, a big war. By plane they attacked us,
12 my home was hit. I had a shop, that too
13 was damaged. Now there are no people
14 there, no people. My family set off for
15 Lebanon then Egypt and finally Libya. I
16 was given a telephone number, they wanted
17 one thousand three hundred dollars to
18 take every one of my family on the boat -
19 so expensive! They told us to come to a
20 house inside were 125 people and one
21 bathroom. We stayed there for ten days!
22 The conditions were very very bad but we
23 are escaping war so what other choice is
24 there? They told us it was a good boat, it
25 was not a good boat - it was old, very old.
26 They wanted us to be scared of them and
27 not complain. They swore at us and said
28 bad things. They pushed us on, 300 others
29 and 100 children.
30 After one hour a boat caught up with us
31 they said they were Libyan police but
32 maybe they were just militia. They told
33 us to follow them. At first they fired
34 into the sky, then into the water then
35 they aimed at the captain! The children
36 cried, the women cried. I pushed my wife
37 and sons under me to shield them. We
38 called Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar! They
39 fired at the hull of the boat and left.
40 Water began leaking into the boat.
41 The captain told us it would be okay, I
42 knew it wasn't true but I didn't want my
43 wife to worry. I told her everything
44 would be okay.
45 “You have a lifejacket, you'll be safe!” the
46 waves were so big and the boat rocked
47 from side to side, then came a big wave.
48 I saw people falling into the water. My
49 family went into the water I could not
50 see them! Some cannot swim. One man came
51 to me and tried to take my life jacket
52 he pushed me down in the water, he was
53 killing me! My eldest son appeared, he
54 pushed him away, he hit him. I can hear
55 the young muhammad “Baba Baba! I am here
56 baba, I kissed him, I took his hand!
57 Baba! where is mama?” I told malam “Please
58 go and bring her to us.” He swam away
59 through the dead bodies, many dead bodies.
60 He was swimming and crying, swimming and
61 crying. I saw bodies floating, no movement,
62 so many bodies, then there is my wife – alive!
63 She told me she never expected to
64 survive, she thought this would be the finish for
65 her. Finally, boats arrived to rescue us.
66 I'm lucky to have my family everyone
67 else lost someone. Today my son William
68 said, “I have nothing, I am empty, I have no
69 money, no clothes, nothing, no one
70 helps us, no one.”
71 I'm trying not to cry.