Said Reza Adib, born in 1982, is an Afghan journalist. During the Soviet invasion his parents and him had to immigrate to Iran in exile. At 22, he decided to go back to Afghanistan while his wife and children were in Iran. He got excellent journalistic training and became an editor at a TV station in Kabul. Said spent years pursuing investigative journalism, first in Afghanistan, then in Iran. However, he was pursued by the authorities and finally decided to move to Turkey with his family.
To reach Turkey from Tehran, they had to cross 2 rivers; the first one they passed through floating on rubber tyres. Crossing the 2nd river was more challenging as they had to wade through the water with heavy currents. Finally, they made it to Turkey however, after a while he had an inkling about his safety due to his prior journalism decided to migrate to Greece. On contacting a smuggler, they travelled in a small van with 34 people cramped inside for 8 hours to reach the shore. The boats were ready. Children had to go in first followed by women. Finally, there were 60 people on the boat. The boat was a rubber dingy, and lifejackets were not real ones. The boat was on the verge of collapsing with women and children screaming in the dark. Soon, a large ship approached, and they were all rescued and finally reached the shores.
On reaching Lesbos in 2018, he had rude awakening when he saw the words ‘Welcome to Hell’ on the walls of camp Moria and noticed people shouting in agony. He saw people attempting suicide as well. He said that living in the camp was hell & described the camp as “shameful for a European country”. Determined to continue his journalism, he reported from Lesbos in news outlets covering poor living conditions, safety concerns and limited medical care.
Photo source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000jcsw