A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea

After six months in Egypt, the family becomes more accustomed to their new home. Other family members from Syria join them, though some have stayed behind to join the Free Syrian Army. Doaa learns of the arrival of a friend of a family member, Bassem, who had fought with the FSA until soldiers caught and tortured him. A one-time barber, he fled Syria. The first time Doaa meets Bassem, she is “not particularly impressed” (55). The next day, Bassem offers to help Doaa carry luggage up a flight of stairs. She refuses. The more she refuses, the more he insists on helping. Bassem feels enchanted by the young girl stubbornly hauling a heavy suitcase up the flight of stairs. Bassem resolves to make Doaa his wife, breaking free from the solemn attitude that has occupied him during his time in Egypt. Over the coming days, Doaa learns that Bassem is interested in her. The interest is not mutual. She states that she has “no interest in marriage” (57). But Bassem does not give up. He talks to Hanaa often and even offers to help the family financially, so that Doaa will not have to work so hard. Even though she is so tired that she gets sick, Bassem’s offer infuriates Doaa and she determines to work even harder.

But political tensions in Egypt increase as the people worry that the Muslim Brotherhood has co-opted the revolution. A military coup overthrows Morsi and he’s replaced by General Sisi. The welcoming attitude toward Syrian refugees evaporates. People begin accusing Syrians of being potential terrorists or Morsi supporters. Any Syrian without proper residency papers faces arrest and deportation. People also begin harassing Syrians in the streets; Doaa and her sisters no longer feel safe. Meanwhile, Bassem’s unrequited obsession with Doaa has had a deteriorating effect on his health. When Hanaa visits him, he threatens to return to Syria to fight if Doaa does not accept his proposal. Hanaa talks sense into Bassem and, that evening, talks to Doaa once again about the proposal. Doaa feels guilty but resents the pressure.

The next day, Bassem comes to her, freshly grooms, and apologizes. Doaa accepts the apology and—very slowly—her attitude towards him begins to change. A short time later, Doaa falls sick. Bassem pays for her treatment in a private hospital. When she recovers, she realizes that Bassem’s affection is genuine. She returns to work, but the new anti-Syrian climate in Egypt makes her anxious and her medical issues do not clear. She takes time off work and thinks often about Bassem. When her mother falls sick, the family takes Hanaa to the hospital. The doctors diagnose her with exhaustion (a common condition for refugees). Doaa cannot help but feel that her mother’s sickness is “somehow linked to her rejection of Bassem” (62). Later, she talks to Bassem and he tells her of his plans to return to fight in Syria. Doaa is shocked. She struggles to stop thinking about Bassem. Finally, she calls him and accepts his proposal. When she hangs up, she holds the phone in her hand, “thinking about the possibility of a new life ahead of her” (64). 

The next day, Bassem visits Shokri to ask for his permission to marry Doaa. This baffles Shokri, because his daughter has never been interested in marriage, but he’s delighted. Bassem and Doaa spend more time together. Their happiness helps to lift a cloud over the refugee community. After a formal engagement ceremony, the couple celebrates with a party but Doaa is sad that her older sisters, scattered across the Middle East, unable to get visas, will be unable to join them. At the party, Doaa’s friends and family eat and dance late into the night. A week later, Doaa realizes that she has lost her engagement ring. Though Bassem promises to buy her a replacement, she worries that the loss means that she and Bassem will never “have a real wedding” (67).

Bassem becomes a beloved member of the family but finds his resources beginning to dwindle. He takes a job in a coal factory and, even though he is exhausted, they often stay up late talking about their future. They think often of Syria, even though all of the news they receive is of people who had died in the fighting. Even though they both miss home, Doaa feels responsible for her family and must stay with them in Egypt. But the change in Egyptian attitudes towards Syrians continues to increase. People harass Doaa in the street and Bassem struggles to find well-paid work. Threatened with violence, Doaa no longer feels safe in Egypt. This has a marked effect on Doaa and Bassem’s relationship, and they fight often. Even Doaa’s younger sisters suffer sexually harassment on their way to school; eventually, the Egyptian schools forbid Syrian children from attending. Men threaten to kill any Syrian child who attends school. Many refugees no longer feel safe. Even though Bassem and Shokri open a salon together, they struggle to make ends meet and Bassem cannot rid himself of the thought of returning home. Bassem knows that something has to change. 

In June 2014, the family takes a walk after a shared lunch. Bassem reiterates to Doaa his belief that they have no future in Egypt and suggests that they try to reach Europe. Doaa worries about crossing the water and knows that they will have no legal way of reaching the other continent. Their only option would be a smuggler’s boat and the thought terrifies Doaa, who still has not learned to swim. Though she refuses, he persists with the idea. For two months, Bassem tries to convince Doaa. Though she repeatedly says no, she cannot help but wonder about life in Europe. In Syria, the violence only intensifies. The Free Syrian Army is not alone in their fight against the government. There are also extremist jihadi groups who form into militias, including one named Islamic State which has begun to gain territory from the government forces. Slowly, Doaa begins to come around to Bassem’s idea. When he discusses the idea with Hanaa, she recommends that Bassem make the trip alone and then send for Doaa once settled. Days later, Doaa finally decides to travel to Europe with Bassem. Though she is horrified, Hanna knows that she will not be able to stop her daughter.

Bassem and Doaa are not alone in wanting to cross to Europe. Already that year, more than 2,000 refugees had died making the crossing. Many of these are Syrians, displaced by the war and struggling to find work in the nearby countries. As a result of this demand, smuggling people across the Mediterranean is a profitable (and illegal) business. For Bassem and Doaa, the trip will cost them $5,000; half paid now, half when they arrive safely in Italy. The day to leave approaches and Doaa has a worrying premonition that the boat will sink. Bassem reassures her, even though he has his own fears. To afford the trip, they have to sell the jewelry gifted to Doaa for her engagement and they borrow money from the family. They can afford half and will figure out how to pay the other half once they arrive in Europe.

On 15 August 2014, they receive a call and leave with their bags. They arrive at the meeting place and find two other families already present. In total, they are 13. They wait for hours and then days at the meeting place for the smuggler to call them. One evening, the message finally comes. They take what little they have and board a bus which takes them to a truck, where they sit in the back and go to a new location. The fearsome men who run the smuggling ring scare Doaa. They arrive at the boat and join up with more passengers, now totaling more than 200, plus “ten criminal travel agents” (78). They wait on the beach for the right moment, when the police and coast guard are not looking. At 1:00 am, the smugglers divide them into three groups of 100, 50, and 50 people. Bassem and Doaa are in the largest group. A smuggler shouts for them to run and 100 refugees sprint down the beach toward the sound of the breaking waves. The group accidently happens across a sleeping coast guard patrol, who chase them across the beach. As they run, many fall behind, including children and the elderly. The refugees run for two hours in the dark until they arrive at an empty road. Neither the coast guard nor the smugglers are anywhere.

After a phone call, it becomes clear that the smugglers allow the coast guard to make a certain number of arrests to show that they are working, and “they get their cut from the smugglers for allowing part of the group to make it to the boat” (79). In the dark, a group of men approach Bassem and Doaa. They are carrying sticks and knives and promise to help the refugees back to the boat. With no other choice, they follow the men. Bassem holds Doaa close, worried. They stop and the men circle around, demanding money. Bassem and Doaa run until they reach a busy road. They try to flag down a car. The only car that stops is a police car. They tell the officers the truth and drive around until daybreak searching for more refugees, who are also rounded up and arrested. The police take their bags and don’t return them. The police then bring them to a detention center where they must confess to attempting to leave the country illegally. They’re also grilled about the smugglers’ identities. Crowded into cells with no running water or toilets, they’re sentenced to 10 days in prison. After nine days, police take the group to Alexandria and they must pay a fine. When Bassem talks to the smuggler, the man offers him the chance to try again at crossing the sea. Bassem does not answer immediately. They arrive home and reunite with the family.

In Syria, the civil war rages on. Extremist groups replace the moderate opposition to the regime. Many of the original protestors are now dead, the ideals of the original resistance dead with them. World powers such as Russia and the United States are taking sides, providing equipment and military forces. All attempts at peace talks collapse. Bassem hears, however, that “Europe [has] sympathy for refugees at [this] point” (83). But across the world, once prosperous Syrians face poverty. Soon, however, the European countries take note of the refugees crossing the Mediterranean and try to stop them. But refugees such as Bassem and Doaa know they have no future in Egypt. They call the smuggler and arrange to try again. They try again and fail again. They spend their anniversary in prison, where Doaa falls terribly sick and goes to the hospital. Diagnosed with kidney stones, she’s treated well by the medical staff. Even the prison guards, who have come to recognize Bassem and Doaa, treat the sick woman with respect. Released from prison, and even though they’re warned not to try again, Doaa and Bassem make another call to the smuggler.