“We are Syrians seeking safety in Egypt,” Shokri told them. “This is all we have left.” Hanaa stepped up beside him, as Doaa and her siblings watched from behind for the customs officials’ reaction. Doaa held her breath, waiting for another insult from an apathetic official.
To her surprise, the official manning the customs scale smiled at them and told them they wouldn’t have to pay anything, even though their bags exceeded the allowed weight. “You are coming from war and suffering,” he told them. “Syria and Egypt are bound together like family.” Another customs worker came and helped them carry their luggage to the bus bound for Cairo and wished them luck, while a family who were standing at the shore watching people file onto the bus called out in their direction, “Welcome, beautiful Syrian people!”
Saja whispered that she felt like a queen. For the first time in months, Doaa felt both safe and welcome. They had heard that Egypt would happily take them in as refugees, and here, finally, was the proof. Yet despite the warm greetings, Doaa was still anxious about having to start over again, this time in a strange new country. Her instincts told her that tough times were ahead. She looked around the bus, taking in her new surroundings, and stopped when she noticed the look on her brother’s face. For the first time in a long time, little Hamudi was smiling.
*
It took ten hours by bus on a bumpy desert road to reach Cairo. From there, they had to travel another five hours to the northern city of Damietta on the Mediterranean coast, where Doaa’s brother-in-law Islam had found a home for them in the district of Gamasa. Islam’s friend Abou Amad had arrived as a refugee a year before them, and they took a taxi from Cairo to his home. After offering them a simple meal, Abou led them to an apartment nearby that he had arranged for them to stay in. The flat, on the ground floor of a multistory building, had two bedrooms and a living room with shabby furniture, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Islam had paid the rent for them for one month up front. With only 300 LE (Egyptian pounds), the equivalent of $40, left in his pocket after paying for the family’s passage to Cairo, Shokri was already worrying about how they would come up with the next month’s rent.
The apartment was filthy, but Doaa and her family slept that night without bothering to clean or unpack; they were exhausted from their journey and not yet ready to face their new environment.
Doaa tossed and turned that first night. She was particular about cleanliness and kept imagining the dust on the floor rolling toward her in her sleep. The next morning, the family went out shopping at a local market looking for breakfast and some cleaning products. When they returned home, they all pitched in to sweep and scrub the apartment. It felt good to keep busy and have something to take their minds off their unease in their new surroundings. Doaa threw herself into cleaning, doing what she could to take control of her new situation.
In the afternoon, neighbors started stopping by the apartment with arms full of store-bought and homemade things to eat: salty Domiati cheese, fried chicken, steamed rice, trays of baklava, and baskets filled with fresh fruit. They were refugees as well from Damascus, Homs, and even some from Daraa. The Al Zamels quickly made friends with their neighbors, bonding over stories of the thrill of the revolution and the terror of war that had driven them from their country to Egypt. The atmosphere these people brought to the living room was festive and welcoming. Doaa found herself laughing and smiling with her new neighbors, relieved to be among her own people.
Doaa’s family was part of the first wave of Syrians to flee to Egypt since the conflict began in 2011, most of whom came to join Syrian friends and family who were working there. Others had business connections or other personal networks that could offer them shelter. To get by, most refugees relied on personal savings, found odd jobs, or opened businesses, and many were able to become self-reliant. That was the hope of Doaa’s parents, too, but soon after they arrived, a bigger influx of refugees brought more competition for work, making it harder to make ends meet. During the first half of 2013, the number of Syrian refugees rose dramatically. One year after the Al Zamels arrived in Egypt, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) registered 125,499 Syrian refugees in the country, and according to the Egyptian government, that figure was actually closer to 300,000 if all unregistered Syrians were taken into account.