Refugee Voices from Egypt - Batoul's Story

Description

Batoul is a mother of five children, one of whom, Ahmed, has a critical heart condition, In 2012 she was forced to flee Aleppo with her whole family for Egypt. In Egypt, her husband Mahmoud couldn’t make ends meet and being unable to support his family, left by sea. He eventually ended up in Sweden. Alone, in debt and having to take every decision on her own, Batoul had to face her new life. Batoul wishes her husband was here to help her with some of the important decisions she has to make on her own. She joined the cooking program at Souryat Women’s Centre, which helped her generate a small income to support herself and her family. “When I worked at the association many people liked the food my colleagues and I cooked. They liked it so much and people who visited the centre started to place orders.” Batoul is slowly finding her way as a refugee single mother in a strange country, But some things even the most determined cannot change. In Egypt Batoul searched for the very best treatment for Ahmed’s heart; eventually managing to have him seen by one of the country’s very best heart surgeons – Magdi Yacoub in Aswan. It was the best chance she could give him, sadly though even Yacoub was unable to help. Souryat Association is a Syrian community centre working under the umbrella of Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) – one of UNHCR’s partners. Souryat Association provides support to Syrian women and children through different recreational activities and awareness sessions, and has made an important difference in the day to day life of hundreds of women and children refugees. Services are available for women, men, girls and boys. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, works to protect and assist those fleeing war and persecution. Since 1950, UNHCR has helped tens of millions of people find safety and rebuild their lives. With your support, UNHCR can restore hope for many more. If you wish to help refugees: Individuals kindly visit http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general/ Companies please see http://partnership.unhcr.org/donate_priority_needs/product-egypt/ Read more at http://www.unhcr.org/ ---------- CREDITS Project Coordinator: Ragnhild Ek, UNHCR Production Manager: Amira Mashhour, Red Carpet Production Production Assistant: Joe Gabra Directors: Ragnhild Ek, Scott Nelson Camera: Scott Nelson, Ana Ocejo Editors: Ana Ocejo, Amr El Hadidi, Tarik Argaz Music: Ahmed Saab ---------- Information for media: If you would like to use this video to communicate refugee stories or require B-Roll, transcripts, stills or much more information, please contact UNHCR at hashemma@unhcr.org.

Metadata

Published to Youtube on: 04/03/2015

Archived on: 08/10/2025

Original URL (may no longer be available): https://youtube.com/watch?v=rzzdUejeq6Y