"How do you defend yourself? It's impossible to defend yourself. If the army gets you, they can do whatever they want with you. I've seen soldiers pour pepper gas on the faces of people who stand at the fence and ask for water, food or help." Bartosz Rumienczyk speaks with Sainab, a refugee from Somalia.
This text has been auto-translated from Polish.
"I would like to tell you a story.
Once upon a time in Somalia there lived a little girl who loved to go to school and was very fond of learning. She dreamed that one day she would become a doctor. That she would achieve something. But bad people stood in her way - Al-Shabab terrorists. The terrorists did not want the girls to study. They believed that a woman's place was in the kitchen. But this girl refused to comply. Her resistance brought her a host of dangers, such as forced marriage and genital mutilation. So she had to run away.
This girl - this is me. My name is Sainab, I'm 17 years old and I want to tell you about what happened to me on the Polish-Belarusian border."
So said Sainab at a press conference in Warsaw organized by the Border Group in October.
Bartosz Rumieńczyk: You were 16 years old when you decided to leave Somalia.Sainab: That's right, although actually this decision was made by my father.
Against your will: he said.
No, no. I also wanted to leave there. I wanted to save my life, so I didn't protest.
First you flew to Russia. Did you know what awaited you ?
When I flew out of Somalia, I thought I would arrive at a place where I would be safe and where I could pursue my dreams. Little did I know that I would end up in the forest, between the borders of two countries, where various dangers would lurk on me.
Didn't you check on the Internet what is happening on the Polish-Belarusian border?
In Somalia, I studied at a boarding school and did not have free access to the Internet, but the truth is that I was never interested in what was happening on the migration routes. I was focused on my studies and didn't think that one day I would become a refugee or migrant. So I didn't know what was happening on the Polish-Belarusian border, just as I didn't know what was happening to migrants or refugees in Libya or Turkey.
So you thought you were flying to a safe place. And where did you arrive?
To Moscow. The smuggler took care of everything and I went to Belarus the same day.
You felt safe with him.
Oh, no, no. It wasn't anyone I knew or anyone in my family. I haven't felt safe since flying out of Somalia. However, I told myself that I had to get to where it would be safe.
How was the situation at the Polish-Belarusian border?
Frighteningly. The first thing that came to my mind was that something bad would happen to me here, that I wouldn't be able to make it, that I would just die.
I saw all these people - from Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia. On each face was painted a different suffering, each face told a different story, because everyone had different reasons for having to leave their home and arrive at this terrible place.
Some were stuck there for months, without access to fresh water or decent food, many were after pushbacks, many had been beaten by soldiers. There were families with children, mothers with babies in their arms. There were also the old, the ailing, there were men reeling from stomach pains, wounded and with various other ailments.
How did the Belarusian services behave ?
Fortunately, I did not meet them. The Belarusian side of the border cannot be crossed like the Polish side, that is, to go through the fence, because their fence has sensors and as soon as you touch it, the alarm calls the services. In order to pass unnoticed, you have to make an underpass.
How much time have you spent in the sistema, i.e. between the borders?.
I won't tell you, because I simply don't remember. All I remember is that I left Somalia on March 15 and arrived in Germany on June 11.
What dangers lurk for women at the border? And how can women defend themselves?
It is particularly difficult for women. There is a lot of violence on the Belarusian side of the border, and rape can also occur. Fortunately, I myself have not experienced or witnessed such incidents.
How to defend yourself? It is impossible to defend yourself. If the Polish army gets you, they can do whatever they want with you. I was lucky that I never fell into their hands. Instead, I saw with my own eyes what soldiers do to people.
What, for examplead.
I've seen them pour pepper gas on the faces of people who stand at the fence and ask for water, food or help. I've also seen them push people through that little door in the fence, you know which one?
Yes, they call them cynically the windows of life. They are the windows of life.
The choice of this window often depends on the number of the border post at which the person was stopped. If they detain a person at a post numbered 350, for example, they dump him at a post numbered 650 or 950, so that he doesn't know where he was dumped, so that he doesn't find his family or friends.
And what do the pushbacks themselves look like?
I saw one boy being thrown out. In front of the fence they beat him, kicked him, pressed him to the ground with their boots. The Polish military uses violence all the time, and against everyone. Gender does not protect against violence, it may seem that the military beats only young men, but this is not true. They also beat women and teenage girls. Before pushback, they take everything people have - phones, food, warm jackets.
I have heard stories that the military destroys people's money .
Not so much destroying, but primarily stealing. They take everything so that people don't try to cross the border again.
And is it possible to turn back from the border to, for example, Minsk or Moscow?
In my opinion, it is impossible.
So how to survive at the border?
In fact, only in the forest do you orient yourself to the whole situation, so it's hard to prepare for it in any way. It's also hard to rely on anyone. You can't expect anyone to be waiting for you once you cross the border. You can only count on yourself.
What was it like to cross the border into Poland?
I climbed the fence from the Belarusian side by climbing a ladder, cut my hands on the concertina at the top, and then slid down one of those vertical rungs, 5 meters down, like a fireman going into action. I knew that there were soldiers and border guards in the forest just waiting to get me and throw me back, so as soon as I set foot on the Polish side, I started rushing ahead. It was very difficult, because I hadn't eaten anything decent or drank clean water for days, and I had to be careful not to fall and do myself some harm, such as twisting my ankles. How would I run then?
Were you afraid?
Terribly, but you know what, at the border I discovered that I am a very strong woman. Instead of breaking down and crying, I started looking for solutions. Okay, I'm alone in the forest, what can I do to survive? Today I know that I can handle everything on my own. I trust myself and believe in myself.
And yet at some point you had to turn to help and support..
I wandered through the woods alone, repeating to myself - Sainab, you have to keep going, you have to give it a go. I kept looking around to see if someone was following me, if someone was chasing me. It was very difficult for me, because I was not walking along a straight path, but cross-country. The ground was like undulating, every now and then I would stumble over fallen trees, fall into cavities, get bogged down in mud. Although it was the middle of the day, the hum of the trees and the crackle of branches sounded very ominous.
In such situations, the imagination works at full speed. The mere buzzing of a mosquito can lead to panic. In the end, I got stuck in the swamp. At first I thought it was just one big puddle, but the swamp began to surround me, so I crouched by a tree, like an island, and then I said to myself - Sainab, be good to yourself and ask for help.
The humanitarian workers who reached you told me that they set out in the morning, at sunrise, and walked to you for at least six hours. They also told me that they themselves sank in the swamp up to their waist and that they had to pull each other out. The girls have been working on the border for years, but they have never seen such a swamp before..
Once they reached me, they promised not to leave me like this, because it's too dangerous a place.
The girls also told me that they were impressed by your humor. When, coming out of the swamp, you sank to your waist, instead of Oh my God you fired out Oh my mud....
They also liked how I cheered on my way, saying "come on, Sainab, let's keep going, your father would be proud of you," or how I hummed my favorite song, which is Perfect by Ed Sheeran, at tea breaks.
When you left Somalia, you hoped to reach a safe place where you could pursue your dreams. But in that theoretically safe place, you had to flee from soldiers through swamps..
And this is the answer to the question why I didn't stay in Poland, but went to Germany. Yes, I was already in the European Union, where I could theoretically apply for asylum and maybe even stay in Poland, but I didn't feel safe in Poland. In practice, it is impossible to apply for asylum at the border. Uniformed officers track people down, detain, beat and throw them back to Belarus. What's more, the military represents the state. So what was I supposed to think about the Polish state when I saw what Polish military officers were doing to people?
When you came to Poland again, from Germany, already as a refugee, you took part in a press conference where you told the story of a girl who had to flee her home and who wanted to become a doctor..
I have always been interested in how the human body works, in school I did well in English, but also in biology. I wanted to go to medical school not for money or to fulfill my parents' ambition, but to study what interested me most.
Many people in Poland and in Europe will not believe you. They will say that people like you are coming to destabilize Europe and to live on our welfare, not to study medicine or go to a polytechnic and become an engineer..
I know this opinion, but it is nonsense. I know that people are different, but refugees and migrants do not want to live on welfare at all. See for yourself how many migrants or refugees work in your city, or how many of them are employed by the likes of Amazon. I live in Germany and no one here would let me sit at home on welfare, unless I had a child. The state tells you to study or, if you're over 18, to study and work. If someone sits at home and does nothing, they lose the right to any benefits. End of story, period. On the other hand, after all, many refugees and migrants today are Europeans, working both as doctors and as engineers. Many of these people have come to something, and you can't pretend that such people don't exist.
Have you heard that? "If you want to claim asylum, stay in the first safe country." For you, that would be Kenya, right?".
Yes, Kenya is safer than Somalia, but I had no say in where I would go. I was 16 years old and it was decided for me. Of course, it would be best to be able to go where you want, but I didn't have that choice.
Many people don't have that choice. We call them illegal migrants, because they don't go to the border crossing, but take boats across the Mediterranean or cross the so-called green border in Podlasie..
I am very pained by such a view. When the war broke out in Ukraine, Poland opened its doors and took in refugees and refugee women from Ukraine. And very well! I'm not saying that you shouldn't help them, but you should treat people on your borders the same way. Meanwhile, you divide people into legal and illegal; some are thrown over the fence, while others are helped, given housing and allowed to travel all over Europe. I can't accept this.
How can you help some and treat others as criminals, "illegals"? And do you even know what these people are fleeing from through Belarus? Do you know what is happening in their countries? Do you know why they found themselves in this forest?
Prime Minister Tusk has announced suspension of the right to apply for international protection in Podlasie.
I don't know about politics, but this is, after all, against international law and simply inhumane.
After the press conference in Warsaw, you went to Podlasie and insisted on going to the border fence.
Crazy idea, right? But I had to do it. I had to see what it was like to stand under that fence, being already safe, the "legal" one. Hundreds of emotions ran through me and I cried.
Was this some form of therapy for you ?
No, I think not. I just wanted to have a good memory of what happens at that border. Perhaps also so that I can help someone in the future.
