A global mind: There’s no escape

Over winter break, my parents and I watched a movie entitled “No Escape.”

The movie stars Owen Wilson and Lake Bell and is about a young family who gets caught up in a military coup. We had no idea how intense the movie was going to be.

Katie Morris

For over an hour we watched this family run from the people trying to kill them and watched as the rebels killed anyone that got in their way. It was terrifying.

But the thing is, this movie wasn’t even real or based on a true story. It was completely made up. What is scary is that the terror in this movie actually does exist in many countries around the world and no one is paying attention.

One of these countries is Syria, where citizens have experienced four-and-a-half years of a vicious civil war, according to BBC News.

The organization Save the Children published Syrian’s accounts of the atrocities they saw in their country. Every single story was worse than what I saw in the movie.

Each and every child sheds light on a part of the world that very few people are conscious of, and they each explain experiences that many of us cannot even imagine.

“Children are on the frontline in this war in many ways,” a man named Nabil said. “I have seen with my own eyes children used as human shields. When two tanks came into the village I saw children attached to them, tied up by their hands and feet, and by their torsos. The tanks came through the village and no one stood in their way or fought because we knew we would kill the children.”

A 14-year-old boy named Hassan said that he, too, has seen children used as human shields. In his interview, he begs people from around the world to help his country.

“I ask the leaders all around the world to save the children in Syria,” he said. “Save them from all the shelling. Children need medicine. We need clothes, and food. Every child should play and be happy. I am worried about the future. What will happen to us? Where will we go?”

The stories of atrocities only continue. Young children starved and beaten to death. Teenagers interrogated and tortured for no reason at all. Babies and small kids used as target practice for the armed men.

What is happening in this world? These children are suffering and not enough people know about it.

People ask why these refugees are risking their lives by taking thin, flimsy boats into Greece. This is why. Wouldn’t you do the same thing? To save your family? To save yourself?

The worst part about this situation is that they will still suffer even if they are able to flee Syria. Thousands of refugees have already died trying to reach other countries and the journey is extremely difficult.

Additionally, the refugee camps are not set up to hold the amount of people seeking refuge, according to the UN Refugee Agency. The conditions are typically far from suitable due to overpopulation.

So the life of a Syrian works like this: they suffer in their country, they suffer travelling to find safety and then they suffer once they reach safety.

You may be wondering, what happens once they get to these camps? Well, they pretty much just have to wait until they get sorted through the system and placed in a new country. The New York Times says that this process can take years, especially if they want to live in America.

The entire situation is tragic and I truly can’t believe that people are suffering like this in today’s day and age.

“When I left that place I felt I’d escaped death,” said Wael, a 16-year-old boy. “Now, I feel that no one cares about Syria. No one is helping us and we’re dying. If there was even 1 percent of humanity in the world, this wouldn’t happen.”

If we take the time to educate ourselves and care, we can make a difference in these people’s lives.

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Katie Morris, ’18, is an assistant news editor for The Brown and White. She can be reached at [email protected].