Summary
Suleman was the only family member out of 13 to survive the ship wreck
After shipwreck, refugee finds despair in Europe
It has been a year since the ship went down, and still the memories torment the Syrian refugee:The father flailing in choppy seas grabbing a life jacket away from his little son;
The young barber from Damascus was the only one of 13 family members to survive when his boat sank, killing more than 200 refugees a year ago Saturday, an anniversary that comes as Europe faces a new wave of migrants making the perilous crossing from North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The most common route is through Libya, and then onto smugglers’ boats to cross 300 kilometers of the Mediterranean to the nearest piece of Europe – the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Suleiman followed that route.
In Berlin, Suleiman withdrew into himself, hardly ever talking.
Suleiman was prescribed antidepressants and sent to a refugee center in Luebeck, three hours north of Berlin on the Baltic Sea.
An Italian ship rescued them from their rickety boat.
Now Suleiman is slowly gathering the will to move on.
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