Ahmad | Exodus: Refugees, in Their Own Words
Video Transcript

AHMAD:  Me and my wife, we agreed that I will travel to the U.K. and my family will later on join me.

AHMAD:  You see, if you look at here, we got a lot of numbers.  Smugglers, smugglers, smugglers.  They got groups on Facebook, you know, closed groups.  So they keep posting, advertising prices, dates, routes, discounts, promotion, you know?

[on the phone] What are you wearing?  A light blue shirt?  Light blue, yes.  OK.  I'm wearing a white and blue shirt.  I'm coming to you.  I'll be in the middle of the square.

Sorry.  Do you know where the Omonoia Square is?  That way?  Five minutes?

Sorry.  Omonoia Square?  Right here.  Thank you so much.

Good evening, sir.  You know where is Omonoia Square?

SHOPKEEPER:  Five minutes.

AHMAD:  Thank you so much.

OK, I mean, everybody says five minutes, and I don't know what's the meaning of five minutes in Greece.

SMUGGLER:  [on the phone] Hi, brother.  I'm on my way.

AHMAD: OK, I'm waiting for you in the middle of the square.

SMUGGLER: OK, I'll call when I get there.

AHMAD: OK.

Well [expletive deleted]  It's better you turn it off because they will be- no, please turn it off because if they see the camera or they see me-

Smugglers are criminals.  For them, I am not a human being.  I am $500 or $1,000 or $2,000.  I didn't have a choice but to come and work with these people.  Time is my worst enemy.  Sometimes a minute can change the entire life of you or your family.

This is the picture of my little daughter and my wife.  You see the building out there?  There was a bomb.  Two little children lost their lives there, in my town.  It's about 200 meters from my house.