The tragic story of two Syrian women who were traveling to meet their fiancés in Germany and the sea swallowed them

Chawafa Khodr cries for her daughter. Jenda departed from Syria and attempted to cross the Mediterranean from Lebanon to join her fiancé in Germany. But the ship she was traveling on capsized and her body has not been found.

Chawafa refuses to think that her daughter died and Khodr, Jenda’s father, does not want to hold a funeral.

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“I wait for her every night and pray to God that she is safe,” says Chawafa in an interview with AFP at his home in northeast Syria.

The body has not yet been found Jenda Said after the shipwreck of his boat with 84 immigrants on board off the coast of Lebanon April 23th.

The distraught mother kicked her son out of the house when he told her she would have to accept that her 27-year-old daughter might never come back.

“Maybe she is lost somewhere on the beach”Khodr, 60, waits, tears streaming down his wrinkled cheeks.

Shawafa Khodr holds a phone displaying a photo of her missing daughter Jenda Saeed (27) at her home in the northeastern Syrian village of Batirzan on May 4, 2022. (DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP)

Jenda had gone to Lebanon with Inas Abdelsalam, 23 years old. There they boarded a migrant boat in the hope of reaching Germany to meet her fiancés, two brothers.

The ship sank after being chased by Lebanese naval vessels. Forty-five passengers were rescued, including 11 Syrians, according to the UN.

About 40 people are still missing, including eight Syrians, including Jenda and Inas.

With tears in the eyes, Chawafa she looks at a photo of her daughter dressed in a red and white sweater, with a braid around her shoulders.

“She put my scarf in her bag, to protect her”he says, remembering the last time they saw each other.

The day before her daughter left, she threw her a party to celebrate her upcoming wedding.

Shawafa Khodr cries as she holds a phone displaying a photo of her missing daughter Jenda Saeed (27). (DELIL SOULEIMAN / AFP).

“Wedding in paradise”

“I was happy”he sighs, watching a video on his phone of Jenda dancing during the party.

But now not a day goes by without tears. she says, wiping her damp eyes with her blue hijab.

Chawafa was unaware that Jenda was planning to attempt the dangerous sea crossing to Germany.

“If I had known, I would have stopped her. She wouldn’t have allowed it for the world.”

Unlike Chawafa, Hiam Saadoun, 42, accepted the fate of his daughter Inas.

He organized a funeral for him in Qamishli (northeast Syria), although his body has not been found.

“I would have liked to see her in her wedding dress,” he says, holding up a picture of his daughter.

“Before I imagined her at home, surrounded by children and her family… but today I wish her a wedding in paradise.”

According to Hiam Saadoun, his daughter had long wanted to flee her war-torn country.

“I was looking for a better life in Europe and sometimes I said to myself: ‘I feel that if I leave, I will never come back’”.

Source: Elcomercio