Salah is a cultural mediator on board Dignity I. He is responsible for establishing the first contact with the people who are about to be rescued and appealing for calm. If they are Arabic speakers, he talks to them in their own language. A refugee from Syria, Salah was granted asylum by Norway.
“I left my country in 2012,” says Salah. “I was studying business administration. I had to flee because the army wanted to enlist me. I didn’t have to do it, but my parents, my sister and my brother boarded a boat to Turkey to travel to the island of Lesbos in Greece. They’re now in Germany, awaiting their residency permit. They are well.”
Salah looks out to sea.
“When I get there and look in their eyes... It’s a fantastic feeling because you see the happiness in their eyes when they understand that someone has come to help them and to take them to dry land. You feel like you’re doing something important for these people. That’s my goal: to help these people.”