For several years, 25-year-old Kawa Anwar Mahmod had dreamed of leaving Iraq.
He wanted to do as his sister and brother did in 2015. Travel to Europe.
He worked, saved money and at the same time looked for the opportunity that could take him to the goal.
Kawa returned home from Lebanon earlier this autumn. He was disappointed because he thought the trip there would be the start of his journey to Europe, but he had been tricked and returned home to his family in the refugee camp in Arbat, northern Iraq.
– It was from this refugee camp in Arbat, in northern Iraq, that Kawa traveled. Photo: Halkawt Mustafa
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His family, who are Iranian Kurds, have lived there for almost 40 years.
– He was sad when he returned, his father Anwar Mahmod Wali tells TV 2, when we meet him in Iraq.
But shortly after he returns, he hears rumors of a new opportunity that could take him to Europe. Several in the camp they live in have traveled to Belarus. They have gotten there, without having to cross life-threatening seas, and without the risk of human traffickers fooling them for tens of thousands of dollars.
On social media, he finds videos of those who have already traveled. They tell how easy it was to get there. It is also written that you can fly legally straight to Belarus, and from there it is only a short walk to Germany, which so many of those who travel to Europe prefer.
Kawa contacts travel agencies in the city of Suleimania. Shortly afterwards, the 25-year-old buys a plane ticket for 3,000 dollars. In addition, the travel agency arranges visas to Belarus via the country’s embassy in Turkey.
Farewell to family
On October 18, Kawa says goodbye to his parents, family and friends, and gets on the plane to Minsk.
A few days later, he sends several video greetings home from the Belarusian capital Minsk.
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“Hi. The people you see behind me are all Kurdish refugees in Minsk, Kawa says in the first video message. ” Then he stands in front of a shopping center in the middle of Minsk. He is with a large group of Kurds.
He is optimistic and also says that the next morning they will gather outside the mall, and then they will travel to the border to cross it.
But the departure is postponed, and postponed. Kawa and the group he is with have received messages from others who have reached the border with Poland.
– Barbed wire and Polish border police ensure that thousands of migrants and refugees do not cross the border. Photo: OKSANA MANCHUK
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They tell of the chaos that rages there, and that the border is virtually impossible to cross.
Kawa sends new messages home.
– Tonight the temperature in Minsk was just above zero degrees and it also fell below zero. People have slept here in this downfall, he says.
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In the videos you can see a large number of people hanging out on the streets of Minsk. At night, they sleep on the streets, in parks and underpasses.
One video shows Kawa and her friends sleeping in thin blanket bags out in the cold of night.
“It’s almost worse to be here in Minsk. Those who have traveled to the border can light a fire and warm up. We who are here in the middle of the city can not do that, “he says while filming.
Paying human traffickers
To get out of Belarus they need help. And together with others he has traveled with and met in Minsk, they begin to look for smugglers who can take them across the border.
They do not succeed until mid-November.
Kawa and a small group of Kurds leave Minsk, embarking on a dangerous border crossing that goes through a mountainous area on the border between Belarus and Poland. Along the way, Kawa calls his father in Iraq and keeps him updated.
-I kept in touch with them continuously. Then it went on for a while, dad Anwar tells TV 2.
– His father, Anwar, was talking to Kawa and his entourage as they left Belarus. Photo: Bent Skjærstad
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They succeed in crossing the border. But along the way, Kawa has become seriously ill. The cold and the effort have picked up, and the forces are failing.
– I was told that my son was very ill. They said he could not walk anymore, and wondered what to do. I talked to them, and they helped my son further, the father tells us.
The party must carry Kawa most of the time after they arrived in Poland. They are then shipped to Germany. Then mother Amina Salh Mustafa gets to talk to her son via the phone of someone in the travel party.
– Photo: Halkawt Mustafa
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– They showed my son via camera, he waved to me for the last time. That was all. The last thing he said was feel good, she tells us.
7 hours after Kawa succeeded in reaching the goal of the journey, he dies.
– DEAD: This is the photo the friends sent home to the family to confirm that Kawa was dead. Photo: Private
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-We have lost our son. We hope that we get the body back so we can bury him and have peace, says the father.
An entire refugee camp in mourning
In the Arbat refugee camp, the home of Kawa’s family is full of mourners. A steady stream of people come to the house to condole, mourn and support the 25-year-old’s family.
– Family and friends gather in the house of Kawa’s family to mourn. Photo: Bent Skjærstad
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All we meet are Iranian Kurds, who fled to Iraq decades ago. What was once a tent camp has over the years become a small village with fragile houses. Kawa and many of his age have been born as refugees.
– We fled from persecution, and came to a country without security. There are far too many dangers here, and too few opportunities for young people. That is why many travel, says the father.
– Amina (left), Kawa’s mother, hopes the human traffickers who tricked Kawa and others into Belarus will be punished. Photo: Halkawt Mustafa
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The family is now trying to raise enough money to bring the dead son home from Germany. The grief is great, but it is also the anger towards the human traffickers who made big money that Kawa and others traveled to Belarus.
– The human traffickers deceive people and send them on wild roads. I hope they suffer the same fate as my son had to do, says mother Amina.
