美国国家公共电台 NPR In Germany, A Syrian Refugee Is Reunited With His Family

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

We have an update now on a story that we've been telling chapter by chapter for two years. It began in Izmir, Turkey, a city on the edge of the Mediterranean¹ Sea, where I met a teacher from Syria in his early 30s. Monzer Omar sat with a crowd of Syrian families on flattened² cardboard³ boxes on the sidewalk.

MONZER OMAR: We have no home, no house - all of us destroyed.

SHAPIRO: He'd been in Izmir for a week waiting for a phone call from a human smuggler⁴ who would put them onto a crowded raft headed for Greece.

M. OMAR: Smuggler call us. We'll be ready, five minutes.

SHAPIRO: Five minutes.

M. OMAR: Five minutes - get ready and go in the night. We not know we go.

SHAPIRO: It could be tonight.

M. OMAR: To the beach, to the beach - get, get, get, get.

SHAPIRO: Monzer Omar had left his pregnant⁵ wife and two young daughters in Syria with his parents. He didn't want them to risk their lives making the dangerous journey to Europe.

M. OMAR: I thank God for not to bring them with - maybe die in any minute, any second.

SHAPIRO: You might recall hearing about Monzer Omar. NPR reporters followed along on his journey, joining him by foot, by bus and by train across Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria and finally Germany. Every day, he sent voice messages to his wife, his daughters and his elderly parents.

M. OMAR: Maybe I will never saw them again. But my wife and daughter - I hope I will see them in the near future.

SHAPIRO: His oldest 4-year-old daughter would say, Papa, where are you? I miss you. Monzer Omar settled in the city of Dortmund. Last summer, the U.S. ambassador⁶ to the U.N. Samantha Power visited Germany to meet with Syrian refugees⁷, including Monzer Omar. I got a chance to ask the ambassador how he seemed.

SAMANTHA POWER: Well, on the one hand, he's getting settled in Germany. On the other hand, he's away from his three kids, and I think his heart is breaking.

SHAPIRO: Three kids - his wife had given birth. A few weeks ago, we got some news about Monzer, so we sent our producer in Germany, Esme Nicholson, to check in. She took the three-hour train from Berlin to Dortmund.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Ladies and gentleman, thanks for choosing...

ESME NICHOLSON, BYLINE⁸: Here we are. This is where Monzer is now living. It's in a very pleasant surroundings, lots of green parkland. You can probably hear the birds singing. And it's pretty quiet here this afternoon. Let's go and see if he's home. He's certainly expecting me.

SHAPIRO: So you walked up to Monzer Omar's apartment building, and...

NICHOLSON: I walked up. I rang the buzzer⁹. They were ready and waiting. In fact, Monzer had already sent me quite a few texts asking me where I was (laughter).

SHAPIRO: Inside the apartment, Monzer had laid out a Syrian banquet - lamb, tabbouleh, cake - enough food for a family.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: (Laughter).

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: (Crying).

M. OMAR: (Foreign language spoken).

SHAPIRO: Monzer opened the door with a baby in his arms. His wife and daughters have arrived in Germany.

NICHOLSON: It's Monzer with his girls. He's got his girls back. Lamar is 4. Then there's Lojain, who's 2-and-a-half, and then Lossin, who's 1, and then his wife, Walaa. They only arrived two months ago, so I think for him, it's still a real novelty¹⁰ that they're there and finally here in Germany.

SHAPIRO: They had their own challenges getting out of Syria into Turkey where they registered with the German embassy¹¹.

NICHOLSON: Monzer was telling me about her arduous¹² journey from Syria over the border in November, which of course was winter. And they were smuggled¹³ by foot over the border, and she had to walk for 10 hours nonstop with three kids. Of course she was carrying their youngest daughter, which meant of course that their 2-year-old and 4-year-old also had to walk for 10 hours nonstop.

SHAPIRO: Well, Esme Nicholson, when you visited the apartment, you were kind enough to put us on the phone with Monzer Omar, so I had a chance to talk with him again. Let's listen.

M. OMAR: (Laughter) My life completely changed.

SHAPIRO: For good.

M. OMAR: Yeah, for good - of course for good.

SHAPIRO: Can you tell me the story of the day you learned your family was coming to Germany?

M. OMAR: I can't describe my feeling. I was in a Deutsche course...

SHAPIRO: You were in a German course.

M. OMAR: ...When I receive the email from the German ambassador in Turkey.

SHAPIRO: The German embassy in Turkey, yes.

M. OMAR: They told me, you can send your family to make visa.

SHAPIRO: And in the middle of class, did you jump up and shout? What happened?

M. OMAR: (Laughter) Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's what happened. Teacher said, oh, Monzer, what happen? I just heard my family will come. She was very happy for me, said congratulations.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #3: (Unintelligible).

M. OMAR: (Foreign language spoken).

SHAPIRO: Is that your daughter that you're talking to in the background there?

M. OMAR: Yeah, yeah, they are here talking. She wants to eat some cake (laughter).

SHAPIRO: So that's the story of when you learned that your family would come to Germany. Tell me about the day you saw your wife and children for the first time in more than a year.

M. OMAR: (Laughter) I feel my heart will go out of my chest (laughter). They come 1 o'clock in the midnight in Yanyuwa.

SHAPIRO: The 18th of January at 1:00 a.m.

M. OMAR: Yeah, in January. I was waiting in the airport...

SHAPIRO: And you're waiting at the airport.

M. OMAR: ...On the - I look to the people who get out from the (laughter) airplane. No, no, not my wife, not my family (laughter). I saw the - my little girl take a big bag. She saw me, and I ran immediately to hug my daughter on the - I was crying with my daughter and my wife. Really, everyone in the airport was take a photo for us.

(LAUGHTER)

SHAPIRO: When I talked to you the last time, you were afraid that you might never see your wife and children again.

M. OMAR: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SHAPIRO: And now they are with you.

M. OMAR: Thank God. Yeah, yeah, exactly. They are with me and every day. For five days after they come, I can't sleep. I woke up and look at (laughter) my daughters sleeping beside me. I'm not dreaming. I ask myself, I'm not a dreaming. I speak with my wife. We are here together again. We are not dreaming, yeah.

SHAPIRO: I wondered if we should talk to her and say hello to her.

M. OMAR: Yeah I know. Walaa...

WALAA OMAR: (Unintelligible).

M. OMAR: Ari want to speak with you.

W. OMAR: Hello.

SHAPIRO: Hello. This is Ari.

W. OMAR: Hello (laughter).

M. OMAR: Ari.

W. OMAR: (Laughter) Welcome.

SHAPIRO: Welcome to Germany.

(LAUGHTER)

W. OMAR: Thank you.

SHAPIRO: Do you like Germany?

W. OMAR: Yeah (laughter). Yeah, yeah, with Monzer (laughter) - like.

M. OMAR: Happy story (laughter) - this is happy ending.

SHAPIRO: Monzer Omar, I'm so happy to talk to you again. Congratulations, and good luck with your new life in Germany with your family.

M. OMAR: Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ari. I'm so happy also to hear from you again. Thank you, Ari.

SHAPIRO: It is the end of this chapter, but not the end of his story. Monzer's wife and children have a temporary visa. They're hoping for permission to stay permanently¹⁴. Monzer is working on getting his teaching qualifications and enrolling¹⁵ the kids in school. His wife has started learning German, and the entire family is about to move into a new, bigger home with a garden.

(SOUNDBITE OF TULPA SONG, "PRETTY THINGS")

1 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

2 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

3 cardboard   

n.硬纸板，卡纸板

参考例句：

• She brought the shopping home in a cardboard box.她将买的东西放在纸箱里带回家。
• There is a sheet of stiff cardboard in the drawer.在那个抽屉里有块硬纸板。

4 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

5 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

6 ambassador   

n.大使，特使，（派驻国际组织的）代表

参考例句：

• He took up office as an ambassador for ten years continuously.他连任十年大使。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

7 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 buzzer   

n.蜂鸣器；汽笛

参考例句：

• The buzzer went off at eight o'clock.蜂鸣器在8点钟时响了。
• Press the buzzer when you want to talk.你想讲话的时候就按蜂鸣器。

10 novelty   

n.新奇事物，新奇（感），新颖廉价的物品

参考例句：

• My mother bought a novelty pen for me.我妈给我买了一支新颖的笔。
• At first I enjoyed all the parties,but the novelty soon wore off.起初我喜欢参加一切聚会，但这种新奇感很快就消失了。

11 embassy   

n.大使馆，大使及其随员

参考例句：

• Large crowd demonstrated outside the British Embassy.很多群众在英国大使馆外面示威。
• He's a U.S. diplomat assigned to the embassy in London.他是美国驻伦敦大使馆的一名外交官。

12 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

13 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

14 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

15 enrolling   

v.招收( enrol的现在分词 )；吸收；入学；加入；[亦作enrol]( enroll的现在分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They lashed out at the university enrolling system. 他们猛烈抨击大学的招生制度。 来自辞典例句
• You're enrolling in a country club, Billy. 你是注册加入乡村俱乐部了，比利。 来自辞典例句