HAMAD’S STORY | Kara Tepe Camp, Lesvos // [REFUGE goes live online next week, join us as we share stories from the film] Possessed of a grace that transcended language, Hamad was a peaceful man of simple desires. Born with a degenerative muscle condition, he’d been wheelchair-bound for the last four years, but was still determined to find a better life, somewhere away from the bombs and death. Setting out on his own across countries and continents, he made it to Turkey, to Ismir on the coast. Given the choice between leaving his wheelchair, or being left behind, Hamad climbed aboard the rubber zodiak on his hands and knees, roped aboard in a life-jacket that wouldn’t have been enough to keep him afloat. After three hours of prayers and the hum of the engines, Hamad finally found himself lifted out of the boat, and onto European soil. Days later, he found himself in the Kara Tepe Center for Refugees, preparing for the next stage of the journey to Athens. And @TheIRC even managed to find him a new wheelchair. He said it wasn’t as nice as his old one, but he wasn’t picky. Hamad has embarked on the most difficult journey of his life, all for the distant hope, that abroad he’ll have a better one. He explained: “In Syria, I was nothing. I have so much to offer the world, I just need the chance to prove it.” #RefugeProject (at Magna Carta)