Split second

It was the swimming competition in the Rio Olympics and Dania felt her calf muscle. It was not cramped, but about to! Was that going to stop her? Think again. This cookie is tough to chew, she’d been through a lot.

In a split second, her mind went back one whole year. To a night when she escaped on a boat crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

The night was just fading away, letting in the first rays of sun. As she dragged her arm through the salty waters she felt the urge to get her face out of water, just to find that warm, shy sunlight.

She felt her calf muscles cramping. Her hand reached down to massage the tight muscles. She was not going to stop. She certainly will not let go.

There were 50 people on the boat that night. They left Istanbul just after midnight. The smugglers charged per head and they wanted as many as they could fit. She had to jump out and continue swimming when the smuggler decided to turn back. For her, there was no ‘going back’.

The little country she came from on the Eastern side of the Mediterranean have gone through a mutilating civil war. People killed others. People hated each other. And people stopped living the way they should. This was no place for an athlete.

The split second finished. She is back in the pool, competing with other swimmers. When you swim, you’re competing with the best. But when you swim in the Mediterranean, you’re competing with the sea monster. The calf muscle was still sore. But here, she’s not going to let it cramp. She was going to continue and compete. In the end, to continue meant a lot to Dania.

In another split second, her mind dashed back to the cramped muscle. To continue then, meant she would survive. Dania still has to count herself lucky, for many did not even start the journey. Many others started, and couldn’t make it. You learn in a brutal war that success is to survive and to persevere.

Her hands reached to massage the contracted muscle. The sea waves were freezing. Her throat was dry, and seawater was making it worse. The hunger and fear had seized her stomach. But she’s heading forwards. And this is where this story starts and where it ends. For this is a tale about the human spirit. Despite the darknesses of the world, Dania’s soul shone to light the whole sea in her journey to get through to the end-start of a new chapter in her valuable life.