‘We looked like animals’: The Egyptian scholar and Mediterranean survivor
Al Jazeera
An Al Jazeera series: Remon was abducted. A risky sea ride followed. Today, he has a new family, life and job in Sicily.
Remon Karam tells his story while sitting in the shade of one of the buildings at Kore University in Sicily.
The 24-year-old has come a long way since he fled Egypt for a new life with a new family in Italy.
“I was 14 when I decided to leave Egypt. It was a decision I made on my own. My parents knew nothing about it,” he says.
“Only my brother was aware and he gave me a small passport photo of him that I still carry with me, telling me that whenever I feel the need to talk to someone, look at that photo and I will feel close to him.”
Ten years after he left Alexandria, that photograph still bears the marks of the salt from the Mediterranean it picked up on his crossing.
