Meet 18 years old girl, "Yusra Mardini" participating in Rio Olympics in 2016 representing, "No Country". Yusra is not representing any country, she is representing the “Refugee Camp”. Yes, you read it right. She has no country and no home of her own!!! She was originally from Syria. She lost everything in the war.
She ran away from the country along with her sister, somehow saving themselves from the prying eyes of the terrorists, police and army. Both of them somehow managed to travel through Damsakas, Beirut, Lebanon and Turkey. They wanted to go to Germany via Greece.
To reach to the coast of Greece they had to travel through a small boat. The boat was small just enough to accommodate 6 persons, but almost 20 persons were boarded on to it. The luck was not in their favor. The engine of the boat stopped working in the middle of the sea and there was no one around to help. To add to their difficulty, only four persons, in the boat knew how to swim – Yusra, her sister and two men.
Four of them took a brave decision; they decided to pull the boat till the coast!!! It was about to get dark, the sea was stormy and the water was freezing cold. Soon the two men and Yusra’s sister got fatigued and they gave up. Yusra, didn’t. She told herself “I am a swimmer, and it’s not right that I die in the water. After all, why did I learn swimming? There can’t be a better time than now to swim. I must swim to save these lives too.”
17 year old Yusra, didn’t give up. In that ice cold water, she swam for 3 hours and reached to the coast. She saved 20 lives. But her troubles were not yet over, she had to reach to Germany. She and her sister didn’t have warm clothes, no shoes, but they didn’t give up. Both of them travelled through Greece, Serbia and Hungary to reach Germany.
She was living in Germany as a Refugee. Her passion for swimming didn’t let her sit quietly. She got hold of a local person who could speak Egyptian and German and managed to get entry in to a local Swimming Club. When the coach there saw her swimming skills, he just couldn’t say NO. Yusra, is now participating in 2016 Olympics at Rio, She is not representing any country. She is a part of 10 member team, playing as “Refugee Camp” under the Olympic flag.
In spite of all odds, even seeing the death in front of her, this 18 years old girl, Yusra didn’t give up. Yusra, is an inspiration to many !!!
