Seven weeks ago, the Mustafa family (not their real name) was escaping through a narrow corridor in a battlefield, fired on by a MiG fighter, while being exploited by people smugglers.
- Fleeing the bombs
- Acid poured on handcuff wounds
- Shelter offers relative comfort
- Winter journey to safety
- 'Please, photos and write . . . anything'
- Existence in exile severe
- Purpose-built, orderly and secure
- 2000 asylum seekers interviewed daily
- Night-time crawl under fire to escape
- 85,000 souls spread across camp
- Young scholar pleads for help
- Travel diary
Their story is one of survival, fighting against the odds to cross the border alive. Now they have found refuge in Jordan at the Azraq camp.
We meet Alla Mustafa when he calls us over and invites us to his UN shelter to meet his family. We are ushered inside to what is essentially a small Versatile garage with UN monogrammed rugs covering the floors.
There, over a Turkish coffee brewed on a small gas cooker in the corner, he tells his story.
The Mustafa family lived in what Alla described as a "poor'' town. He installed insulation for a living and worked hard to support his family - his wife, and three young sons and daughter, all under 6.
He was near tears at times as he recounted his tale. He said my questions about the escape and the loss of loved ones and friends were not insensitive - he was happy to answer them.
The town in which they lived was high up on a hill and was a vantage point the Government wanted to take. Following heavy shelling in the surrounding area, the population of 10,000 was told by government forces it had an hour and a-half to leave through a humanitarian corridor in the surrounding battle.
"We left in seconds. After an hour and a-half exactly, to the second, they would open fire. We had not time to pack, we left with the clothes on our backs. We could not drive, we were told to leave on foot.''
After this harrowing journey through the narrow corridor, they were loaded into cars and forced to pay people smugglers to get them as close as possible to the Jordanian border.
The journey was hazardous. At one stage they were fired upon with machinegun and rifle fire, injuring several in the party.
The smugglers demanded a heavy price and smuggler by smuggler took all their money, as they were delivered from rendezvous point to rendezvous point and handed on to new smugglers in the network.
"But at least we had some money. Those who didn't are still displaced within Syria. They cannot get to the border.''
The journey had other hazards and some died of thirst on the way as ‘‘there was no water'', and the smugglers provided no provisions.
Finally they were told to get out and walk the rest of the way. It was as far as the smugglers would take them.
Over three days with few provisions they walked for 24 hours across the rocky desert to the border.
Then, close to the border, terror struck again.
"A plane swept down and fired on us,'' Alla said.
"It was a MiG - it fired rockets,'' his wife Jodee said, looking up from preparing the coffee.
The family has many relatives still in Syria.
"They are under siege at the moment.''
I apologise again for asking how the war has affected the family personally. How many died who were close to them?
"‘Many,'' he said. ‘‘Many, many''.
"We had to make the trip to Jordan. The situation was too unsafe in Syria. Always shooting and shelling. We could not stay in Syria.''
When asked about his hopes for the future for his children, he looked sad and responded "it is just a dream''.
"Only God knows.''
He said they were happy to be in the camp.
"Here we have safety and security. We missed this back home.''
Author's note: We were accompanied to Azraq by a member of the Jordanian police. It felt uncomfortable speaking to the Mustafa family in his presence. He wore plainclothes and I am uncertain if they knew he was a policeman. I was careful with my questioning as I wanted to ensure the family was not unwittingly placed in a difficult position.
