Christian teen saved 18 refugees in Aegean Sea, became Olympic swimmer
By Mark Ellis, Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
GREECE (ANS -- August 11, 2016)
-- When her overloaded refugee boat broke down between Turkey and
Greece last year, a Syrian teen and her sister jumped into frigid Aegean
waters and used ropes to tow the boat to safety, saving 18 lives.
Incredibly, her survival allowed her to became part of the 2016 Olympic
competition in swimming as part of the refugee team.
“In
Syria I worked in a swimming pool to watch people not drowning, so if I
let anyone drown or die I would not forgive myself,” Yusra Mardini, 18,
told People Magazine about her harrowing journey.
Mardini
grew up in Damascus, the daughter of a swim coach, who began training
her at three-years-old. When she got a little older, she began to swim
for the Syrian national team and received support from the Syrian
Olympic Committee. Her talent in the pool showed amazing promise.
But when the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, her competitive swimming lane evaporated. She was only 13.
“All
the sudden you couldn’t go where you wanted, or your mom calls you when
you’re on your way and says, ‘Come back; there’s something happening
there,’” she told The New York Times.
School was often canceled for days because of threats to students’ lives.
She
and her friends attempted to live normal lives as teenagers. “In the
beginning, everyone talked about it, but then after a few years, we were
like: ‘O.K., if I’m going to die, I’m going to die! But let me live my
life. I want to see my friends!’”
In
2012, the Mardinis’ home was destroyed in the Daraya massacre, which
resulted in hundreds killed. Two friends on her swim team were slain and
later a bomb shredded the roof of her training center, according to The Times.
Over
the next few years, conditions deteriorated. Distraught, she went to
her mother one day and pleaded with her to allow her to join the exodus
escaping the war: “Enough is enough,” she declared.
“Fine, find someone you can trust to take you, and you can go,” her mother replied.
On
Aug. 12, 2015, Mardini and her sister Sarah left with two of her
father’s cousins and another friend. They flew from Damascus to Beirut,
then on to Istanbul, where they connected with smugglers and a group of
30 other refugees.
The
group was bused to Izmir, Turkey, and then taken to the coast to wait
for a boat that would take them to the Greek island of Lesbos.
After
several days, Mardini, her sister, and 18 others were crammed into a
rubber dinghy meant to hold six. Thirty minutes into their journey, the
engine died and they began taking on water in rough seas.
Fearful the boat might capsize, some passengers began to panic and threw their possessions overboard to lighten the load.
Photo
captions: 1) Yusra Madrini. 2) A group of Syrians arrive on Lesbos
after sailing on an inflatable raft from Turkey. (Andrew
McConnel/Panos). 3) Yusra training. 4) Mark Ellis.
About the writer: Mark Ellis is a Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), and also the founder of www.GodReports.com,
a website that shares stories, testimonies and videos from the church
around the world to build interest and involvement in world missions.
Mark is also co-host with ANS founder, Dan Wooding, of "Windows on the
World," a weekly TV show broadcast on the Holy Spirit Broadcasting
Network (http://hsbn.tv), that features the top stories of week on the ASSIST News Service.
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