Bedoon Risks Channel 'Death Route' to Britain
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FREE Established 1961 Friday ISSUE NO: 18234 SAFAR 1, 1442 AH FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 Ice maidens set Human footprints dating back No cheerleaders, no fans: IPL 6 the ice on fire 22 120,000 years found in Saudi 37 pares down glitz in COVID era Bedoon risks Channel ‘death route’ to Britain See Pages 4 & 5 Walid (center), 29, a bedoon from Kuwait, sits in a dinghy with his brother’s family and other migrants as they illegally cross the English Channel from France to Britain on Sept 11, 2020.— AFP 2 Friday Local Friday, September 18, 2020 Photo of the day When can we travel again? KAFFEEKLATSCH By Shakir Reshamwala [email protected] espite the coronavirus pandemic showing no sign of abating, governments around the world Dare opening up the economy and easing lock- downs. Schools have also opened in some countries. In many nations, this resulted in a renewed surge in COVID-19 cases, prompting authorities to clamp down again. But one sector that is still badly affected is the travel and airline industry. The United Nations said earlier this week the pandemic cost the global tourism sector $460 billion in the first six months of 2020. Airlines have ramped up pressure on the European Union to coordi- nate virus measures, demanding an end to quarantine “chaos” and access to reliable and quick testing. Myriad requirements by different countries has made travelling - if it’s even possible to do so - a headache. Some nations require a PCR test, some mandate com- pulsory quarantine of varying durations, some need A plane leaves contrails in the clear blue sky. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat travelers to download intrusive apps, some require all of the above, while others none. But weary people are desperate to travel again for leisure. In Taiwan, there are flights to nowhere, which circle the island and return back to the same airport of departure. In Thailand, a mothballed plane has been con- Time is wealth verted into a café to make patrons feel they are dining inflight. Some countries are only allowing flights within ‘travel bubbles’ with relaxed rules. muscles. Is not swimming something enjoyable? There IN MY VIEW In Kuwait, travel is mostly restricted to those heading are other sports that can be performed at home includ- to their home countries, to study abroad or for treat- ing aerobics and similar activities. ment. Stringent conditions are required to travel - Why don’t we hit the books? Reading is the best food including mandatory PCR tests. Passengers also cannot By Abdellatif Sharaa for the brain, whatever the book - scientific, fiction or even religious books. For those who cannot drop their arrive directly from 30-odd countries, further complicat- [email protected] ing matters. Those determined to arrive have to spend 14 mobiles from their hands can download anything online days in a third country, test COVID negative, download and read. Also, it is likely that you may have encountered a tracking app and quarantine at home upon arrival. he year 2020 is really the year of opportunity. certain events or incidents, so why not write about them This has dissuaded many in Kuwait from travelling. Yes, the year of opportunity! One may scream out in a story form - this will exercise your brains and you Both Kuwaitis and expats living in Kuwait are avid trav- Tloud that after the coronavirus, lost jobs, a stag- will get something out of these devices. elers, particularly in the summer months when the heat is nant economy, closed schools, being unable to travel, Another thing that we can benefit from the use of unbearable. This is a time when Kuwait empties out, with etc, what opportunity are you talking about? smartphones is photography, so why don’t young and explorers heading to all corners of the world. Obviously, Despite all the ills and drawbacks that took place this old people use their phones and take pictures, bearing in the summer of 2020 was an exception, with the entire year of which there are still more than three months to mind that each picture should mean something and have populace confined to the country, and during the curfew go, we had and have plenty of spare time! We had to a story behind it. and lockdown, at home, leaving people antsy. endure long hours at home. Some were working online, Talking about photography, why not start drawing? Every other person you meet these days says their but time was and is still abundant! My niece Mais, for example, started drawing and came travel plans were affected by the pandemic. Some still Why don’t we make a detour, change or enhance our out with several works, and each one is more beautiful haven’t applied for ticket refunds in the hope that they habits, and be serious about coming out with something. and intriguing than the one before it, and many of those can fly as soon as the crisis blows over, or because they Although we may be involved in work, jobs or even tak- who saw them appreciated the effort. Mais is an out- ing care of kids, many have extra hours that can be used fear airfares will skyrocket once restrictions are lifted standing high school student and about to get her final in beneficial things. You can do several things, but it is and it makes sense to hold on to their tickets, especially grades soon. She found time and polished her hobby. better to concentrate on one or two hobbies to practice since most airlines have waived rebooking charges. Hobbies are the most potent medicine against bore- them more often and enhance the performance of the Others do not want to pay hundreds of dinars for PCR dom and its practitioners may start making an extra body and mind. tests - both ways - for themselves and their families, and income out of them. By the way, there are many things Sitting home for longer hours makes one lazy, and this are waiting for things to return to normal. that can be learned online, and this is almost in every- may reflect on our physical activity and appearance, to Nobody knows when this pandemic will end, but one one’s reach in our modern day. the point that we become terrified when we see a thing is for sure - the moment the all-clear is given, peo- As Arthur Schopenhaur wrote: “Ordinary people weighing scale. So why don’t we exercise? Those who ple in Kuwait will return to their globetrotting ways. think merely of spending time. Great people think of can swim should hit the water, which helps tone the using it.” 4 Friday Local Friday, September 18, 2020 Walid (Second right), 29, a bedoon from Kuwait, sits in a dinghy with other migrants as they illegally cross the English Channel from France to Britain on Sept 11, 2020. — AFP photos ritain! After years trekking through The crossing unfolds ($3,500) per person, they will board a small er?” asks Walid, 29. “Well, thanks be to countless countries, weeks in a filthy In a wood on the edge of the Grande- rubber boat with a rickety engine. God.” “So, do you have news?” “No...” Bcamp on the French coast, seven gru- Synthe railway line, under a makeshift tar- On a WhatsApp call, the silhouette of the “Tomorrow, inshallah?” “Inshallah...If it’s eling hours on a small boat tossed about by paulin tent, Walid and Falah are glued to smuggler pops up. They have never met good weather tomorrow, we’re going.” the Channel, Walid has finally made it. He’s their phone. It’s their holy grail, their only link him. These types of criminal networks, often For a month now, Walid has been waiting managed to cross the so-called death route. with the people smuggler who will give them Kurdish or Albanian, use go-betweens to with Falah and his girls, whom he met in His friend Falah, though, is still waiting. the green light to take to the sea. For €3,000 establish contact. “How are you, my broth- Frankfurt on the migrant route towards a bet- For three weeks, two AFP teams followed ter life - full of hope. “Even if this journey is Walid, a stateless man from Kuwait, Falah, nicknamed ‘the death route’, we want to an Iraqi and his two daughters, nine-year-old cross. “We’re heading into the unknown - Arwa and 13-year-old Rawane, who is there is just God, the water and us. Allah will severely diabetic, from the town of Grande- decide our fate,” says Falah. Synthe in northern France to Dover in the A reserved man in his fifties, Falah south of England via the choppy waters of escaped Iraq in 2015 when the Islamic State the Channel. group was in full expansion, joining hun- Just 33 km separate the French coast dreds of thousands of others on the road to from the white cliffs of Dover, visible on a Europe. Leaving his wife behind -a matter he clear day, but the crossing is one of the refused to dwell on - he travelled on foot world’s busiest - and most dangerous. Still, from Karbala in Iraq to Germany, which in more and more people are attempting the 2015 decided to welcome close to 900,000 risky passage. Between Jan 1 and Aug 31, migrants before closing its borders, via 6,200 migrants tried their luck, according to Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Croatia, French maritime authorities. In the whole of among others. 2019, 2,294 migrants attempted to cross.