Mediterranean Sea – On the open sea, 1000’s of kilometres from land, on a flimsy blue wood boat, 21-year-old Linda* from Daraa, Syria, didn’t care if she lived or died.
She and 125 different refugees had left the Libyan coastal metropolis of Sabratha at midnight of night time, and her solely objective was to get her sick mom to security – away from the battle again residence, away from the freezing sea that they had been drifting in for almost two days with no meals or water.
Then their boat was intercepted by German search-and-rescue vessel Humanity 1 – and Linda, her mom and the others have been saved.
In the primary chaotic hours after the rescue, she walked across the open deck, crying. Dressed in a black tracksuit with white stripes, she zigzagged between individuals queuing for a change of clothes and a protracted line of frozen survivors ready to see the ship’s physician.
![The blue boat [Nora Adin Fares/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/The-blue-boat1-1708686236.jpg?w=770)
Some of them have been wrapped in shiny aluminium emergency blankets. When they moved, the sound reminded her of opening sweet luggage when she was a bit woman.
Grabbing one of many crew members, her eyebrows furrowed in an effort to carry again tears, Linda whispered in Arabic: “Can I please charge my phone? I need to send a message.” She held out an iPhone with a cracked display screen and traces of salt dried onto it.
She had been out of contact for 22 hours, so her fiancé of three weeks – nonetheless caught in a Libyan smuggling shelter – didn’t know if she was lifeless or alive.
When she was informed she must wait a couple of hours, her tears spilled over.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2024/3/2/a-woman-has-to-be-stronger-than-a-lion-to-cross-the-mediterranean?traffic_source=rss
