*
From the moment Hanaa and Shokri said good-bye to Doaa and Bassem, they were filled with worry. Hanaa had a foreboding that she would never see them again. After Doaa’s last call letting her parents know that she and Bassem were about to reach the beach from which the boat would leave, Hanaa and Shokri had stayed inside at home as much as they could, avoiding anyone who might ask whether they had any news. After five days passed with no word, Hanaa was beside herself with worry. The trip should have taken four days at most. She phoned Doaa’s friends and asked them to check “Fleeing from Death to Death,” a Facebook page that tracked refugee boat journeys to Europe and published announcements when a boat arrived safely. Many boats were listed on the page, but not the one that had left Gamasa on September 6.
Hanna tried telling herself that they had made it and just hadn’t found a way to contact her yet. Or perhaps the boat had had engine trouble at sea and they were waiting for rescue. Shokri wondered aloud whether, as before, they hadn’t made it to the boat and were unable to call from prison. The one thing neither would say to the other was that Doaa and Bassem may have died at sea.
Conflicting information began to come in through friends and family. On the way to the store, Nawara heard a rumor that the boat had sunk, but that Doaa and Bassem were among two hundred survivors. Another time, neighbors told Saja that Doaa and Bassem were dead. The sisters kept these rumors to themselves, for fear of panicking their parents.
About six days after she’d last heard from Doaa, Hanaa also got wind of a rumor that the boat had sunk and there were no survivors. She began to fear the worst, but remained silent, not wanting to worry her family or admit to herself that Doaa could be dead. Then, on September 18, twelve days after Doaa and Bassem had left, a group of neighbors knocked on Hanaa and Shokri’s door, asking to come in, saying that they had some news. From the looks on their faces, Hanaa knew it was about Doaa and Bassem, but she was afraid to ask. The women moved out to the balcony and the men sat gloomily in the adjacent living room.
Just as they were about to speak, Hanaa’s phone rang. She reached for it, relieved to break the tense silence and delay the news she sensed they were about to tell her. “Who’s calling and what do you want?” she said, uncharacteristically abrupt.
“Mom, it is Ayat! Listen! Doaa is alive!” Ayat quickly told her mother about the 3:00 a.m. call that she had received and that Doaa was safe with a family in Greece.
“Thank God!” Hanaa was weak with relief.
Hanaa told Ayat that she had days ago heard that there had been a shipwreck but had kept the news to herself, not wanting others to worry. Then Hanaa asked about Bassem.
“She told me he was sleeping in a mosque, but she sounded odd,” Ayat said. “I’m not sure. She was disoriented when we spoke, but something about what she said sounded wrong.” Ayat gave Hanaa Doaa’s number in Greece so she could speak to Doaa herself.
Hanaa dialed the number as soon as she got off the phone with Ayat. A woman answered, speaking Arabic. Hanaa anxiously asked to speak to her daughter.
After a few long seconds, Doaa picked up the phone. “Mom, I’m okay. I will call you when I am feeling better.” She sounded faint and distant.
Hanaa was flooded with relief, but couldn’t believe that Doaa was going to hang up so quickly. “Where is Bassem?”
“He’s at the supermarket,” Doaa said flatly.
Hanaa could sense something was wrong in Doaa’s reply and hastiness to get off the phone. Hanaa asked to speak to Doaa’s hostess again. When the woman came back on the line, Hanaa pressed her for details. “She’s fine,” the host mother said, promising that the family would treat Doaa as their own daughter and protect her. When Hanaa asked about Bassem, the woman would only say that he was away, but gave no other details. Hanaa guessed from the woman’s strained tone that Doaa was nearby, so Hanaa asked if they could speak in private. A few moments passed, then the woman began to speak more frankly. She told Hanaa she suspected Bassem had drowned along with most of the other passengers and that Doaa was in denial. The woman said Doaa was a heroine who’d survived four days in the water and had saved a baby girl. “Doaa has a kind heart and she is safe with us. Be thankful to God she is alive.” Then the woman whispered to Hanaa, “May Bassem rest in peace,” and offered to put Doaa back on the phone.
Doaa’s voice was so faint it was hard to recognize it was her.
All Hanaa wanted to do was cry, but she knew she needed to be strong for Doaa. “Say something, my daughter, so your father and our neighbors can hear it is you.” By this time, family and friends had congregated around Hanaa after hearing that Doaa was alive. Hanaa put the phone on speaker and told her, “Everyone is here, asking about you.”