Lulu is a little bundle of mischief and joy. She loves freedom, her father, Maher said. She loves to run, to disappear and to be found again. Her father would like her to become a doctor.  

Maher and his wife, Bayan, left Syria for Lulu. 

Maher was afraid that he would be called up to join the military. He says there were checkpoints on every corner and that it was only a matter of time before his time would come. Every day, when he left home, he could not be certain he would return. Every day, he feared for his life and the lives of his wife and child.  

They first tried to make a living in Turkey but Maher, a fitness instructor, could not find work. They didn’t want to make the journey across the Aegean Sea and they kept putting it off but, when they ran out of money, they had no choice.  

“Every time the waves are angry here, we remember our journey,” Maher said.  

It was hellish. The waves were high, the sea was rough, and the “life jacket” for Lulu lost all of its air in the sea. Bayan cried the entire way.  

“If the boat capsizes,” she told her husband, “don’t save me, save Lulu.”  

Maher says that they arrived on March 19. Their claim for asylum was rejected he said, but they can appeal. That appointment is set for February 2017. 

“This situation is very humiliating,” Maher says. “We lived in the old city of Damascus. It was an easy life for us. The only thing that keeps me here is my baby.”  

September 2016