This 105 year old, Afghan migrant dreams of a better life without wars and bombs.
Bibihal Uzbeki, from Kunduz, Afghanistan, is one among tens of thousands of migrants who have traveled thousands of miles in search of a happier, safer life in Europe.
covered herself with green scarf and a brown blanket, she was brought on a stretcher to Croatia’s main Opatovac refugee camp by her son and grandson on Tuesday after crossing in from Serbia.
The trek across mountains, deserts, seas and forests into Europe is dangerous and exhausting, even for people one-fifth her age.
“My legs hurt, but I’m fine,” Uzbeki said in Farsi, speaking through a translator while sitting on the floor inside a Red Cross tent. Her hands shook as she spoke.
She said her 17-member family had traveled for 20 days to reach Europe, with her 67-year-old son and her 19-year-old grandson often carrying her on their backs.
“We had problems many times. I suffered a lot,” she said. “I fell and injured my head. I have wound on my head.”
Croatian police said they checked her documents and she is 105 years old. Her grandson also said that’s her age, but it could not be independently verified.
The Croatian Red Cross wished the family “all the best in the world, as well as to thousands of others whom we meet daily.”
More than 260,000 migrants have passed through Croatia since Sept. 15, when Hungary closed its border with Serbia, diverting the flow of refugees to Croatia.