"A storm is coming": one migrant family's bid to reach Europe

"A storm is coming": one migrant family's bid to reach Europe

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With migrants only allowed one backpack each on the smugglers' boats that carry them from Turkey to Greece, Ahmed, his wife Hanin and her family packed a few possessions and sent the rest of their belongings to friends.

Then they waited.

It should have been the defining moment of a journey which started as Syria's conflict escalated, forcing the two Palestinian families to flee their homes in Damascus' suburbs.

. Kilis, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya
Ahmed makes a call at a bus stop on his way to Kilis to meet Hanin for the first time.

Hanin and her family left in 2014, and Ahmed two years later for Turkey where they were introduced in the winter of 2017.

Living in different cities, they exchanged text messages for months before Ahmed took a 20-hour bus trip from Izmir - Turkey's third largest city located on the Aegean sea - to the border town of Kilis to meet her, which led to their engagement.

. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya
Hanin leaves her friend's apartment in her wedding dress.

They were quickly swept up in a flurry of wedding preparations: searching for the perfect dress, struggling to wire money across Western Union offices, planning a two-night party. Their engagement party was in Kilis, right across from war-torn Syria.

More than 3.5 million Syrian refugees live in Turkey as a result of a conflict that has raged since 2011. In 2015, more than 800,000 mainly Syrian and Afghan migrants took to the seas off Turkey to make the short but perilous trip to Greece.

. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya
A Turkish flag hangs from the window of an abandoned factory in Hilal, one of the poorest areas in Izmir.

The numbers fell dramatically the next year after a deal between the European Union and Turkey to stem the exodus.

Hanin's younger brother Hamza was among those who left earlier, heading to Germany four years ago. The family yearns to stop communicating via patchy video calls and reunite in Europe.

. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya
Turki goes to the beach in Gumuldur, Izmir, for the first time.

"All the sorrow for my son is in my heart," said Turki, Hamza and Hanin's mother. She said her weak heart swelled on dreams of seeing her son again.

Ahmed, who studied English literature in Syria to become a translator, worked 14-hour shifts at a textile factory in Izmir where the couple moved after they married. Hanin's mother packed nuts in a factory while her father sold Syrian cigarettes.

. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya
Ahmed packs life jackets for his family on the day he expected to travel to Greece.

They aimed to save $3,000 that they would need to make it to Greece, their first stop on the way to Germany. The family followed a Facebook group created by volunteers in Greece, posting about arriving boats, accidents and weather conditions.

Every day, they heard and read stories of stormy waters causing accidents and of families drowning at sea because they didn't have enough money to buy life jackets.

. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya
Ahmed talks to a friend, planning how to get back money he paid to a smuggler who never got in touch.

"Maybe these are signs that we should not go," Ahmed would sometimes say in the lead-up to their 2018 attempt. "Every new problem is trying to say something to us."

But he saw no option but to leave Turkey, because staying meant he would "keep working in that factory forever".

Dozens of migrants have died during their journey via Turkey to Europe, according to reports by state-owned Anadolu Agency. Some drowned in the Aegean Sea, others died in vehicle crashes, while many froze to death while trying to cross borders on foot.

. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya
Money belonging to Ahmed is set aside as part of the payment for a smuggler to take Ahmed, his wife and her family to Greece.

Ahmed's resolve was tested when a smuggler he paid to secure the family's places on a boat disappeared with their cash.

They had to work hard again to raise fresh funds.

Ahmed found another smuggler and paid the fee again. The family changed their minds five times in two weeks.

Finally, they packed up, bought life jackets - a simple but risky transaction which carries the possibility of arrest. On their last night they went out for dinner with friends, then waited nervously at home for the call to head to the beach.

. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya
Hanin's father, Zuher, fits his son Osama, 8, with a life jacket, preparing to travel to the Greek Islands on a dinghy.

The sleepy children played with life jackets and showed off how they would swim to the island. The adults agreed that if Hanin or her mother felt something was wrong, they would turn back. Ahmed stared at his phone.

At 11 pm, the smuggler still had not called to tell them to head to the beach. They feared they had lost their money again but he eventually called a few days later.

They were driven to the beach, where they had to climb hills and walk through the forest to reach their departure point. They piled into the dinghy with 26 others and took off.

The people on the small boat were loud, so the Turkish coast guard found them, 20 minutes away from the border. They were driven to jail and held for three days.

. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya
Mattresses balance on a window as Ahmed's family clean their house.

The family says they can try again with the same smuggler, for no extra fee, though Ahmed is despondent as he watches the clouds gathering above the darkening waters. "I never felt worse," he says. "So much thinking, and a storm is coming."

A year later, the family still wants to move to Europe but have written off the boat route. They don't want to suffer the sting of humiliation again, the insults in holding cells, the waste of their limited funds.

. Kilis, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya
Children play on a street in Kilis.

Ahmed said he would never go back to Syria because the situation has worsened, and because he would have to serve military service and fight for President Bashar al-Assad.

He says despite working 12-hour days, six days a week, his salary is not enough to pay rent, bills and food. The long hours leave him exhausted, as does the racism he says he sees on the streets, on public transport and social media.

"My dream nowadays is to travel legally to Europe because we are very tired here," he said.

Ekaterina Anchevskaya was a 2018 Reuters photojournalism grant winner. Click on the names to see the stories by the other grantees, Manuel Seoane, Nicky Woo, Loren Elliott and Thomas Nicolon.

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Slideshow

Mohammad plays with a toy gun on the first night he and his family moved from Kilis to Izmir.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Mohammad plays with a toy gun on the first night he and his family moved from Kilis to Izmir.

Ahmed works alone in a textile factory.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Ahmed works alone in a textile factory.

Syrian refugee Ali, a friend and co-worker of Ahmed, talks to his relatives back in Syria.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Syrian refugee Ali, a friend and co-worker of Ahmed, talks to his relatives back in Syria.

A boy rides a bike in the Ikicesmelik area where Ahmed and his family live.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

A boy rides a bike in the Ikicesmelik area where Ahmed and his family live.

People gather on the street at night in Hilal, one the poorest areas in Izmir.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

People gather on the street at night in Hilal, one the poorest areas in Izmir.

A store is seen from Ahmed's friend's house in Ikicesmelik.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

A store is seen from Ahmed's friend's house in Ikicesmelik.

A Syrian man poses for a photograph in a shop run by his family.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

A Syrian man poses for a photograph in a shop run by his family.

Ahmed buys rings for his wedding.
. Kilis, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Ahmed buys rings for his wedding.

Hanin's wedding shoes and accessories.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Hanin's wedding shoes and accessories.

Ahmed and Hanin dance on their wedding night.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Ahmed and Hanin dance on their wedding night.

Ahmed and Hanin cut their wedding cake.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Ahmed and Hanin cut their wedding cake.

Hanin's brothers, Osama, 8, and Mohammad, 11, walk home from school.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Hanin's brothers, Osama, 8, and Mohammad, 11, walk home from school.

Osama and Mohammad play with a tablet at their home.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Osama and Mohammad play with a tablet at their home.

Hanin's father, Zuher, kisses his sleeping son while the family waits for a call to travel to the Greek Islands on a dinghy, late at night.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Hanin's father, Zuher, kisses his sleeping son while the family waits for a call to travel to the Greek Islands on a dinghy, late at night.

Hanin looks at her phone at her family's apartment.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Hanin looks at her phone at her family's apartment.

A man looks out of a window during sunset.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

A man looks out of a window during sunset.

Ahmed looks out from a window in a Syrian restaurant popular among refugees in Izmir.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Ahmed looks out from a window in a Syrian restaurant popular among refugees in Izmir.

Ahmed walks into the water for his first swim in Aegean Sea.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Ahmed walks into the water for his first swim in Aegean Sea.

Sunset over the Aegean Sea.
. Izmir, Turkey. Reuters/Ekaterina Anchevskaya

Sunset over the Aegean Sea.