A heart-broken Syrian mother in Ajman has shared her story of being separated from her 12-year-old son after he was sent on a refugee boat to Germany. Ibrahim Hassan Hamed, son of Sabah Hassan, crossed the Mediterranean Sea with his young cousin and other refugees in September 2015. They departed from Turkey and crossed Greece before reaching Germany.

Hassan has not seen her son since then, and she cannot afford to apply for a German visa to visit him as he does not have a passport. She is also worried that her family will not be granted a visa due to their Syrian origin. More than 300,000 Syrian refugees has been taken by Germany in the past three to four years. According to the UN, over a million have applied for asylum in EU countries, due to the prevailing conflict in Syria.

In 2015, Hassan and her children were trapped inside the Syrian town of Jarabulus after ISIS took over their house. Shortly after, when an opportunity arose, Hamed's father had no choice but to send him to Germany. Today, he lives in a refugee camp and his education is being funded by the German government.

"I really miss my son. I don't know when and if we will ever see him again. We try to talk with him everyday, but if I could see him in person and hug him, I'll be very happy," she said. "It makes me cry thinking that he must be missing me, his mother. He is only a little boy and he didn't ask for any of this."

After sending Hamed off to Germany, Hassan and her three other young children fled as well. They reached Turkey after being smuggled across the border and paid someone $6,000 to make them passports. Eight dreadful months later, they finally arrived to the UAE in 2016 to live with their husband and father. Hassan's family is one of the two Syrian families in the UAE who were offered free education by a British school in Dubai. They are attending school and Hassan said "their lives have completely changed, thanks to the school".

However, she still has sleepless nights worrying about her son in Germany. "I'm always asking myself 'did he eat?', 'is he hungry?', 'is he thinking about us?', 'is he missing us?' and I just start crying," she said. "I keep praying that one day he will be reunited with us. Until then, I'll be calling him every single day to hear his voice." Ibrahim Hassan Hamed was one of the lucky ones that made it through the Mediterranean, as thousands of refugees have died while attempting to cross the sea in low-quality boats.

Source: Khaleej Times