Kurdish family risked all to bring autistic children to Europe

BIALYSTOK, Poland - In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, Rebaz worked as a labourer earning $400 a month, not enough to send even one of his two children to a special centre they need after they were diagnosed with autism. He and his spouse Sarwin decided to try and migrate to Europe where they hoped their children could get the care they need. 

“I came here for the sake of my children because there wasn’t an autism centre for my children in Kurdistan. There was one autism centre available, but it costs $600 a month. Two children would cost $1,200 a month. I used to earn $400 a month. I couldn’t afford to take them,” Rebaz told Rudaw in a camp in Poland where they are being housed. He and his spouse asked to be identified by their first names only.

“The children’s situation will get worse if they aren’t treated, as they get older,” said Rebaz. He borrowed money from family and they left for Belarus where their dream of a better life for their children met the hard reality of a fortified border into the European Union. 

Thousands of people, many of them Iraqi Kurds but also citizens of Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan, have traveled to Belarus this year with the hope of reaching European Union nations only to find themselves caught in a standoff between Minsk and the EU. 

The EU accuses Minsk of creating a crisis by luring migrants with easy visas and promises of access to Europe in protest over sanctions that were imposed after Belarus crushed political opposition following a disputed presidential election last year. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in an interview with the BBC, said it was “absolutely possible” his forces helped migrants cross into Poland.  

At least 11 migrants have died on the Belarus-Poland border since the summer, according to Polish media reports, many of them succumbing to the bitter cold. 

“We were in the forest for 10 days without drinking water or food. We had nothing with us. We used to sleep next to the fire,” Sarwin recounted of the time their family spent trying to cross the Belarus-Poland border. 

Two months ago they were detained by Polish border guards. On November 17 they were sent to a camp in Bialystok, Poland.

Now Rebaz prays his efforts will not be for nothing and his children will get the care they need. “If I didn’t have the two children, I wouldn't have left Kurdistan ever,” he said.

Last week, Belarus cleared the main camps on the border and moved hundreds of migrants into a warehouse-like centre where they are sleeping in tents and on wooden pallets. Iraq has brought home over 400 people and plans more repatriation flights, but in Belarus, many Kurdish migrants said they don’t want to go back. 

“Life is very good here. They provide us with food, water and everything. In Kurdistan, we were queuing for benzene and gas and here we queue for food and the toilet. There’s no difference. I have eight children and I am willing for them to die, but not return,” said one father.  

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has acknowledged the existence of economic and security problems that are driving people onto the costly and dangerous migration trail, but says his government has made progress with reforms and job creation. “I believe that Kurdistan has significant potential to be a much better place, a much safer place,” he said last week. 

Reporting from Poland by Alla Shahly

Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed

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