Sarah and Ysra Essay
Sarah and Ysra overcame a huge challenge their country is in civil war and a terrorist group called Isis is invading. They were the best swimmers from their country and they used that to their advantage in leaving the country. It says in the text “Two months ago the sisters were swimming for their lives, after jumping off an inflatable boat that was carrying Syrian refugees to Greece. The boat had begun taking on water. Now they are swimming the length of a pool that has become a home away from home for the two young women, who were once among Syria's brightest swimming stars.” they swam the length of an Olympic swimming pool just to evade the horrors in their country and
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The sisters traveled to Lebanon, then Turkey, where they paid smugglers to take them to Greece. The Turkish Coast Guard drove their boat back on the first attempt. The second time they boarded a small inflatable dinghy at dusk. Within a half hour it was taking on water, hopelessly overloaded with people, most of whom couldn't swim. As evening winds churned up the Aegean Sea, all bags were thrown overboard to give the small boat a chance to stay afloat. When that wasn't enough, Ysra, Sarah and three others who were also strong swimmers jumped into the water in order to lighten the boat. They finally got there 3 hours later. In the weeks long overland trek that followed, strangers gave them clothes. Others stole from them. Friends were arrested at borders and expensive tickets proved worthless, as authorities refused to let trains full of refugees cross borders. Eventually, the sisters made it to Austria and then Germany. Shortly after arriving in Berlin, a local charity put them in touch with the Wasserfreunde Spandau 04, a swimming club based near their refugee