Month: March 2019

Just wow! Finally Dr. Kim realized her country may not have been the best country. She always believed in her country, was thankful for the opportunity for education that allowed her to become a doctor. Years pressed on and nothing was getting any better. She found herself starving and weighing under eighty pounds. She finally decided to go across the border with the list of names her dad gave her while on his death bed. She had relatives in China and she was going to defect.

Her first encounter after crossing the river was a section of farmhouses. She attempted the gates and found one unlocked. When she steps in she sees a bowl of white rice with meat in a bowl on the ground. She was shocked because she herself hadn’t seen a bowl of white rice in years. And to think there was a bowl sitting right in front of her. It wasn’t until the dog started barking that she realized that the food she saw, the food she would have loved to have had, belonged to the dog.

But now she couldn’t deny what was staring her plainly in the face: dogs in China ate better than doctors in North Korea.

pg. 220

“It seems to be that if someone is upset with their life they are quick to hate but when they are content with their life they have a capacity to be loving and compassionate.”(franki101)

It seemed to me that the refugees leaving Syria in Crossing the Sea were building trust and friendships amongst the other refugees. This was the furthest from truth. They passed the time while waiting to flee, but I don’t think trust was ever fully established. When they finally did reach the boats it became a panicked frenzy with people running ahead to secure their place on a boat. One man who had a life jacket promised to help a little girl through the water to the boat, but when he saw the boat and others running, it was not longer in his best interest to help others. He wanted his asylum like everyone else. No matter if he made a promise to a young girl and her family, he was going to get on the boat no matter if she was left behind. It was survival of the fittest at this point.

These smuggler stories depicted in Crossing the Sea by Wolfgang Bauer, remind me of the stereotypical used car salesman. They have a way with words to convince even the most desperate person to do something they probably shouldn’t.

In the chapter, The Sea I, it describes smuggling as a business. With expenses, overhead, risk and reward. It’s a fiercely competitive business against other smugglers.

“They damage their competitors’ reputations to boost their own”

pg. 39

The smugglers like to make it known that it is an expensive operation, maybe to make the refugees feel that what they paid was a fair market price. One of the original group members, Elias succumbs to the offer from a different smugglers gang. He was guaranteed to board a boat sooner that the group he started with. With much back and forth, Elias decided to give it a try. He failed. His new group was in the same predicament as his original group. He thought he was getting a better deal and found himself being swindled by a really good salesman.

March 25 2019

Notes:

Up to page 35

Syrian refugees experience many challenges before reaching Europe. Many of these challenges include the Baltagiya gangs. These gangs deal with protection of money, deal drugs, run prostitution rings and mafia trades. The syrians are also at risk of being killed because the Egyptians carry weapons under their clothing. Another challenge that they go through is being blackmailed for money and being kidnapped. “These men, who wanted to finally be free, have never been less free than now,” (Bauer 32). This quote illustrates how the Syrians tried to be free in Europe and got kidnapped throughout the process. Another challenge the Syrians have to go through is hiding their identity. The biggest challenge of all was the living environment that they were kidnapped and confined in. The place was filthy, the toilet had no water, and the rooms were cluttered.

I predict that this group will continue to face many obstacles until they reach a safe harbor.

Thoughts:

• Inflation $3000-$3500
• Robbed
• Arrested
• Smugglers

So many characters are introduced to us in this book by Wolfgang Bauer. It’s almost hard to keep them straight. The gist of the book so far are a group of 13 people wanting to escape Syria and try at a better life in Europe. One must be wealthy it seems, in order to try at this idea of escaping. It costs quite a bit to hire a smuggler “travel agent”, who orchestrates the whole trip. They pick them up in Syria, arrange various apartments for them to hide out in along the way and even organize the transportation to and from various points. None of this is as appealing as it sounds. Not like an American wanting to explore Europe for leisure.

These men are faced with seriously harsh circumstances. Before they even make it to the boat to attempt the crossing of the sea, they are kidnapped from their smugglers and held for ransom. No one tells them what is going on, they must have faith in their hired travel agents to get them to the ports on time, when it is safest to cross. Near death experiences just in their bus rides to various places has them on edge. Will they ever make it to the port? Or will they be turned in before they even start their crossing?

After years of being alone with the knowledge that North Korea wasn’t the best country in the world, both Jun-Sung and Mi-Ran hid their truest feelings from each other. The people they felt the closest too still weren’t able to share their hearts with one another. Jun-Sung knew what was really going on in South Korea because of watching the TV and hearing radio programs. Everything he had learned, he couldn’t share with his girlfriend of 7 years. I couldn’t imagine being trapped in your own mind and not being able to express fears, desires or needs to another person.

Mi-Ran loved Jun-Sung but knew her family line would bring shame to his family if they were ever to marry. He wouldn’t be able to join the workers party or pursue his career at the university. She made the choice she couldn’t do that to him. With her family, she escaped to China. When her father passed they decided to try and get into contact with his relatives. The adventure began and even though fear resided in all of her family, the idea of a better life was on the horizon. They had to try…

I find my self most interested in the various groups that are allied or in conflict with one another. I want to know who is responsible for what. I.E who fired first, who committed what crimes, who is at fault. Not just the forces within Syria but also the external forces effecting the country and its refugees.

I want to learn more about how they are coming here and arriving to United States and in particular Hawaii.

After briefly reading the book and the article about Syria I found the war between all these different groups interesting. I say this because non of these people show any remorse for taking other peoples lives, there are so many groups at war with each other it’s insane for example the Syrian Civil War, ISIS, Al-qaeda and a bunch of others. This cause about 4.5 million people to leave their homes for their lives and if not then they risk dying from anyone of these groups. There is no mercy when it comes to this war they torture, kill, rape and starve people to make an example out of them. I want to understand their reasoning for this war and what they believe they will achieve if they continue on this road to destruction.