A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea

Shokri’s friend Khaled drives the family to the border. Doaa does not want to leave, she had promised herself that she would “never abandon the revolution” (43). After rushed goodbyes the day before, the family intends to travel to Jordan and then catch a ferry to Egypt. They must stop at many checkpoints along the road. When they reach the border, Doaa takes one final sad look at Syria. By November 2012, 20 months after the violence first began, estimates suggest that 49,000 people had died, with many more arrested. By the fifth year of the war, the United Nations would estimate that 250,000 people died and more than 1 million injured, while 5 million Syrians would flee and 6 million get displaced within Syria itself. By 2016, Syrians would become the largest displaced population in the world.

The family finds 200 other cars all attempting to cross into Jordan. At the border, the guards demand money. The family do not have enough. They are not alone; many cannot afford to cross but no cars turn back. Doaa spots an uncle selling newspapers by the side of the road. When she explains to him what has happened, he arranges for them to cross over the border.