She doesn’t know war even when she is a part of it. She knows her mother’s lap not the open sky near the borders. At four days of age she is oblivious to the politics and geo-strategic ambitions of nation-states. Too young to decipher the image of that face-down sleeping-dead boy on the shore of Mediterranean Sea.
The burden of reality may be huge for this few-hundred gram baby, but she can’t escape it.
Amid a sea of refugees fleeing war-torn Syria is a story of Yousef Aba Zeed and his wife Anwar. Four days back during their run to safety in Greek island of Samos, Anwar gave birth to a baby girl, Rahf, a born-refugee. A moment of happiness and new life in a desert of helplessness.
Yousef Aba Zeed travelled with his wife Anwar through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia with a hope of crossing over to Hungary through Serbia-Hungary border – a main route used by refugees.
With Hungary closing its border and declaring a state of emergency in two of its southern counties, Rahf’s father said he does not know how much longer he and his family can cope after they found themselves stranded at the Serbia-Hungary border, The Independent reports.
Hungarian Police say they have prevented almost 10,000 refugees from entering the country.
Four-day-old baby Rahf, wrapped in a blanket in her mother’s arms, is among thousands of refugees who found the erstwhile entry point for refugees on Serbia-Hungary border closed by way of a razor wire fence.
The family is waiting for a piece of information from the authorities about what they should do now. They wait.
But what Hungary is now reportedly planning isn’t showing signs of hope for Rahf and thousands of refugees. According to reports, Hungary is mulling over extension of the wire fence to the Romanian border, which the Romanian foreign ministry has criticized.
Entering the country illegally seems no option as according to the new law those caught trying to enter the country illegally will face criminal prosecution.
A security advisor to Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, told a news conference that 174 people had been caught trying to enter the country illegally.
So, where will Rahf go? What happens to her? She is, for no fault of hers, born as a refugee. Will Hungary let her have a personhood?
Nobody knows.
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