BERLIN—The Syrian family asks with wonder why they didn’t die like thousands of others like them: killed by bombs in their native Damascus; drowned by the rough waves of the Mediterranean; or suffocated in overcrowded trucks speeding them through Europe.
“Sometimes I wake up and I feel like, thank God, I’m alive,” says 19-year-old Reem Habashieh, who with her loved-ones survived a harrowing 16-day flight from Syria to arrive last week in Berlin — amazed they all made it.“I’m lucky, I’m a blessed person.”
Habashieh, her mother and three younger siblings are five of the 37,000 who have flooded into Germany this month. Now they’re embarking on another unknown journey, trying to start a new life in a country full of strange people, cold rain, unfamiliar smells and voices they don’t understand.
Fear still fills Habashieh’s big green-brown eyes when she recounts their epic trek across Europe last month.
