Episode 3 Exodus: Our Journey

MUFFLED CONVERSATION

This programme contains some strong language

I've never travelled to Europe before.

I don't know what's the atmosphere towards refugees.

It didn't feel like we were welcomed

by all those countries we were going through.

We were certainly not welcome.

WOMAN:

This is the story of the migrant crisis...

..told by the people who risked everything

for the dream of a better life in Europe.

Me and my wife, we agreed

that I will travel to the UK

and my family will later on join me.

In Syria, sometimes a minute

can change the entire life of you or your family.

Me and my friends, we spent three full days...

..in the back of that lorry...

motionless...

..and that lorry never moved.

Three full days, doing nothing.

We gave up.

We said, "OK, if, at 6pm,

"the lorry does not move,

"we're going to call the police

"because we cannot stay here any more."

At three, the lorry started moving.

And we knew that we are on the ferry somewhere on the sea.

Then, suddenly...

the ferry stopped.

I closed my eyes and I started crying.

I was thinking of my family, you know, my wife and...

' I said, "I've done all this entire journey for my family.

' "Please, I just want to end up in the UK."

'We turned on our mobiles

'and the first message I got on my mobile was,

' "Welcome to the UK." '

I've made it.

After almost two months from leaving Syria,

now I am in the UK.

Now my dream is coming true.

So glad, so happy that I've made it.

FOOTSTEPS

'We got out of that lorry...

'Then a car stopped and it turned out that they are the police.'

They came with this very strange accent.

I didn't understand what they...

"Hello, fella, how you doing?"

It's like, you know...

I didn't understand.

"Is this England?"

He said, "Yeah, this is England, fella."

You know, it's a very different accent.

He said, "OK, you just calm down. We'll take you to Immigration."

They fingerprinted us, they interviewed us,

then they said, "OK, we're going to disperse you to Wakefield."

It looks nice. Beautiful.

-JOURNALIST:

-What do you think?

-I don't know!

I wonder how he is sitting there. It looks crazy.

Is he heavy?

Thank you...for him.

-There.

-Sorry, I haven't seen it.

-Thank you.

-All right.

-If you need help, just let me know how I can help you.

-All right.

My plan was to get to the UK and I got here.

The next step is to get asylum...

..so I can get my family here safely.

And the sooner I get a family reunion,

the sooner my family will be leaving Syria.

Governments are simply dealing with the symptoms of the problem

and now they need to tackle the roots of it.

-OVERLAPPING NEWS REPORTS

-3,000 refugees and migrants

have crossed the Mediterranean from Africa this year...

..from further south in Africa will be very difficult to control.

This truck from Libya had 50 people hidden in hay bales.

..desperate people willing to risk everything...

..thousands of miles of desert border to patrol.

CAR HORNS BEEP

Chop-chops!

LAUGHTER AND CLAPPING

They are my sisters, you know.

They...

-To family.

-ALL:

-Yeah! To family.

..Europe, Europe, Europe.

-JOURNALIST:

-Is this your kitchen?

-Yeah.

No.

Does he know you're leaving?

-But you're leaving tonight.

-Yes.

-How come you haven't told him?

-Hmm?

-How come you haven't told him?

96, 84, 92, 58.

5...8.

Which is about...?

2,000 euro.

-2,000 euro?

-Yeah, 2,000 euro.

-Are you scared?

-No.

I'm not scared.

OVERLAPPING NEWS REPORTS

..ill-equipped and overcrowded boats...

Over 2,500 people are known to have drowned...

25 bodies were recovered...

More than 1,000 people are feared dead...

..4,000 people were rescued from the Mediterranean...

..been described as a graveyard for migrants.

..migrants died in two big shipwrecks.

So...

HUM OF CONVERSATION

FIRE CRACKLES

BUZZ OF CONVERSATION

Let us go back. Go back, go back.

Go back. It's tear gas.

There is nothing different between Africa and here.

MEN CALL OUT

(This is good.)

So, basically, we climb up there...

When I get there, I take off my clothes,

put them in a plastic bag.

I go down and then I get into the water,

I swim to the other side,

till I reach the stairs.

Dry myself up, put my clothes on, climb up the stairs,

wait for the sniffing dogs to be gone and then hide under the trucks.

The truck takes me to the ferry and then the ferry moves.

And there you are, UK-bound.

You see, that's a security car, there.

For a month, I had my friends with me.

But both of them made it on the same day, and I didn't.

And as happy as I was for both of them...

in my heart, I was not happy.

They've made it to the UK.

Now I'm on my own.

Before I got close to the ladder,

I noticed that there was a maintenance mini boat

that had two people on it very close to the ladder.

I thought, "I'm going to get caught.

"I'll rest tonight and then try again tomorrow night."

Welcome to the Jungle.

I called it the graveyard of hopes, or the graveyard of dreams...

..cos a lot of people like, just, lose it there,

they just don't make it.

I got ten cigarettes for one euro.

It's not so bad - for one euro.

There was one guy I met

and I was like, "So, how do I get to England?", and he started laughing.

He literally started laughing and he was like...

"Er...I've been here for a year."

And that's when I was like, "Holy shit."

CONVERSATIONS IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

First of all, I was like, "OK, what's the worst that could happen?

"There's free food and there are showers and a toilet."

But there's just too much misery in here.

The morning time, I'm thinking of how I'm going to get into the UK

and, at night-time, I'm trying to get into the UK.

Walking for around two to three hours every single night.

Jumping over three fences.

The police is everywhere - they're circling the area.

'And then getting caught and being sent back to the Jungle -

'that was every single night while I was in Calais.'

Three of those times I was on the train, but I would get caught

a minute or two before the train starts moving.

I tried the lorries.

DOG BARKS

That's even harder than the train cos...

it's very dangerous.

The truck just started moving, I'm just letting you know...

about ten minutes ago, and it's very, very, very cold.

We're almost freezing in here.

Er, we've been in the lorry for almost nine hours now.

CLATTERING

It's full of Duracell batteries.

There's only a few of us.

However, we think that the truck is going the wrong direction.

It's...

It's not going towards Calais. It's going towards Paris.

Let's just hope that we're wrong.

I shouldn't have risked my life that much, to be honest.

But I was desperate and...

..I had to try everything.

I spent 60 days in Calais.

You never know. Maybe, like, if...

My mom tells me that, "Hassan, maybe you'll cross to the UK

"and maybe you won't be successful there.

"Maybe you'll find success somewhere else, so don't just..."

I don't know.

HE SNIFFS

HE BREATHES DEEPLY

THEY SPEAK IN OWN LANGUAGE

SHE CONTINUES TO PRAY

SHOUTING

CAR HORN BEEPS

PEOPLE SHOUTING

CONVERSATION AND LAUGHTER

These are our tickets that we buy today,

so we are ready to take the journey from here to Agadez.

2,000, this one. 2,000.

BUZZ OF CONVERSATION

SHOUTING

I would never have ever thought of going to England

if I knew how bad Calais was.

SHOUTING

SHOUTING OUTSIDE

I spent the worst days of my life in Calais.

I...

..fucking hate Calais.

A friend of mine knows someone who has around

nine people from his family who made it to the UK using a fake passport.

He gave me his number, I contacted him and he was like,

"Send me your pictures

"and the passport will be ready in five days.

And...I'm going to go to Paris.

Another friend of mine offered to give me his flat,

so I can stay there, spend the night.

Tomorrow morning, hopefully, I'll pick up the passport...

and off we go.

If it works, it works.

If it doesn't work, then I have tried everything.

Back in Syria, every time it rains,

my mum would say it's a blessful day.

So hopefully, now that it's raining,

it's all going to go for the best.

When I think about my memories...

..when I think about how Syria was...

..it is very happy memories.

Back in Syria, we used to take pride

when we say, "I'm from Damascus."

Because Damascus is the oldest inhabited capital in the world.

It was amazing. It was incredible.

I loved growing up in my city.

THEY CHAT AND LAUGH

'Suddenly, this all disappeared.'

Syria has a long past of dictatorship and...

..corruption and...

We did see it coming. We knew it was going to happen.

-NEWS REPORTS:

-The anti-government protests are spreading...

..demonstrations. Many in Syria fear the days ahead

-could see more violence...

-..beyond the point of fear...

..became a civil war...

-Many have been killed...

-The target of people's anger,

President Bashar al-Assad...

Mr Assad's regime responded with bullets and tanks...

Anti-government protesters shot by the security forces...

Going on protests in Syria was like going on a suicide mission.

You would go and you may never come back.

CROWD CHANTS AND CLAPS

Suddenly, we were surrounded by military intelligence police...

fully armed.

HE EXHALES

They had iron poles

and, as soon as they arrived, they were like,

"Give us your phones and your...

"Empty your pockets. Throw them on the floor." We did.

And they were like, "Lie down. Lie down on the floor." We did.

And they were rough, around 20 minutes of heavy beating,

and they used to hit to deform.

They...

It's...

I...

All I used to think about is that I don't want to lose my face.

And I was protecting my face with both of my arms,

and so both of them got very badly broken.

My wrists where shattered.

And they wouldn't stop. They just wouldn't stop.

And you're screaming for mercy or pleading for them to stop,

but they just wouldn't.

I've got two of my ribs broken and my left leg was...

..was heavily damaged after that long session of beating.

They took us to the station...

..put us in a cell

and...things were very ugly there.

It's just inhumane on many different levels.

I'm just going to stop for...

HE SOBS

HE EXHALES

I've got here my new passport and here is my new name.

Faredo...Neslav...

The smuggler also sent me this via e-mail, which is the boarding pass.

The next step...

PHONE RINGS

-Sorry.

-That's all right.

Hello?

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, my God.

I'm already freaking out - I shouldn't -

but I'm really, really scared.

Faredo...

Faredo...Neslav.

Faredo Neslav.

I called the smuggler and he told me that there was a guy

who was on the previous flight and he made it, he made it through,

so there's nothing to worry about, so go ahead.

I walked to the airport,

I checked my flight on the screen.

I walked through and there was a passport control.

I think my looks helped me a bit

because the guy didn't even go through my passport.

The gate opened.

I stood in the queue and...

..I heard my name.

TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT IN FRENCH

They called my name...

I approached the staff.

And he immediately tells me, "It's a fake passport."

No matter how awful the state I'm in right now...

Every night, I think of those who...

Those who died on the way.

Like, so many people sank in the Mediterranean...

..and, just yesterday,

70 people were found suffocated in a truck in Austria.

They were abandoned by their smuggler.

There were people who died getting on in the train in Macedonia.

So for all of those who were seeking a better life

and they died on the way there...

..I feel like those are the people who keep me going.

For you to die while trying to escape death is really...

For you to die while escaping death is something

which is very hard to accept,

but I feel like this is all meant to be.

I mean...

That's it.

I just got this post off the postman.

It is from the Home Office.

Oops. They put a lot of glue on it.

Oh. Wow.

This is awesome. That's brilliant.

See?

It says I have been granted asylum in the UK. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much indeed. Thanks.

This is my neighbourhood, this is Epsom.

Yeah.

Yep.

Home, sweet home.

This is my place for the time being.

I am living with an English family for the last five weeks.

I posted something on Facebook,

and these people just called me and said,

"Please, come live with us."

So...

..this has been my room

for the last five weeks.

So, yeah, look, it's a very nice place.

This is England. This is the heart of England.

-Ahmad, would you like something?

-Yes. A cup of tea, please.

-A cup of tea or coffee?

-Tea.

-Tea?

-Thank you.

Do you want milk?

Yes.

You're turning into an Englishman.

Well, yeah, because, when I arrived,

I didn't drink the English tea...

and now I am becoming English.

My family live near the Turkish border...at some point here.

North of my place, it's under Isis control.

They need to get to Lebanon and from Lebanon to Beirut,

to get to the British Embassy, to have their interview

for family reunion.

And within 24 hours, to leave Lebanon and back to Syria.

They are not allowed to stay in Lebanon,

so they will finish the interview and they go back to Syria again

till they hear about the decision,

if the application has been accepted or rejected.

It's a very dangerous, horrible journey.

We're willing to house them all here

until they get themselves sorted out.

We've got the space to do it.

And, you know, they should be able to just fly directly here

and be welcomed here,

and it's just terrible that they have to do this dreadful journey.

'Hello?

'Daddy!

'Eva...'

Eva.

'It's Eva.'

My daughter's voice.

'Daddy.'

You know...

Oh, gosh.

You know, it's just like it had happened yesterday

that my wife gave birth to my child, you know?

And now she has started speaking, my daughter.

Started speaking and...

..we never met.

-NEWS REPORTS:

-The route from Libya to Italy is popular,

traffickers taking advantage of growing instability

and lawlessness...

..battling for control of their shattered nation...

..chaos, not democracy, filled the gap there...

It's easy for the people-smugglers to operate...

CONFUSED SHOUTING

Hello? Hello, yes. How are you?

INDISTINCT

Yes.

Hello?

-What has happened to Alaigie?

-OK.

OK?

How long can he be there for?

I'm heading to Brussels

to fly as

Tarazo Trenov from Bulgaria.

I don't have high hopes, but we'll just see what happens.

OK, I am going to the airport now.

I am going to check-in,

and then go to the passport control and see how it goes.

At the gate now, waiting for boarding to open.

Hopefully it goes...

all well. Inshallah.

ENGINES ROAR

'Across the world, so many people are fleeing their countries.

'Some are fleeing war.

'Some are fleeing poverty.

'They all have something in common,

'which is looking for somewhere safe to live.'

I am a refugee.

I just look like you.

I've got a family, I've got dreams, I've got hopes,

I have got a home, I've got everything...

Literally, nothing different from you people.

'I just want a peaceful life away from violence.'

Hey!

'Anyone can become a refugee. Anyone.

'It's not something which you choose -

'it's something that happens to you.

'And just like it happened to me, it can happen to you.'

PLANE LANDS

'I was one of the 1.1 million people who crossed into Europe in 2015.

'I am Hassan.

'Hassan from Syria.'

-PILOT:

-'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the United Kingdom.

'The local time here, in London, is 3.25pm.

'Please remain seated...'

How has the right to seek asylum in the UK changed over time?

To find out more, go to...

..and follow the links to the Open University.