Family Survives Terrifying Ordeal, Flees Yemen by Boat
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Hafez Alawdi is reunited with his wife and two kid after they fled Yemen by boat in a journey that took 16 hours. ABC News(DJIBOUTI) — Reuniting with his family after a terrifying ordeal on the high seas “was my life starting all over again,” Hafez Alawdi says.
Hafez is a chemistry professor at Cal State Fresno in California and his wife Samiha, son Shaker, 10, and daughter Sara, 4, braved the 16-hour boat trip from the Red Sea port city of Mocha, Yemen, to Djibouti earlier this week, fleeing the intensifying violence there.
Hafez and his daughter Sara are both U.S. citizens but his wife and son are Yemeni nationals.
“If you have connections, you can provide for your family — if you don’t have connections, I’m sorry, but you’re out of luck.”
Hafez had connections and thanks to the tip on the U.S. Embassy in Sana’s website, he tracked down a boat departing from Mocha, paid for three spots and his family was on the road at 3 a.m. the following night.
For Samiha, it’s been a terrifying few weeks. The young mother, parenting alone in the city of Taiz while her husband works in California, describes her average day: “Waking up in the morning, I don’t send the kids to school — we eat minimal food because you don’t want it to run out — then we take shelter, always take shelter — hide from all the bombings — and then once the night hits that’s when the airstrikes get worse. The electricity goes out. And more shelter.”
As Samiha and the children boarded the boat, Hafez boarded a plane to come meet them.
“I didn’t know whether I’d see my family again — if God forbid the ship sinks,” he says. Sitting on the plane, “tears start running down my eyes and a passenger next to me was just looking at me like — Okay they’re probably thinking that I’m crazy — I probably am at this point.”
When he landed in Djibouti, he borrowed a phone, dialed the U.S. Embassy Djibouti emergency number and the consular officer handed the phone to his wife.
“He handed the phone to my wife, and as soon as I heard her voice, that was the happiest moment that I had,” he says, choking up. “I knew that my family were here and they were with a fellow American who’s taking care of them.”
He starts to describe how the kids leaped out of the consular car but stops. “I can’t find the words to describe that moment,” he said.
“I’m glad that I took this risk, and if I have to take that all over again, I will,” he said. “It’s a gamble. …I did not know what to expect, it’s definitely better than staying in Yemen.” He advises any Americans still in Yemen to get out — and “get out now.”
If all goes according to plan, the Alawdis will remain in Djibouti until U.S. visas come through for Samiha and Shaker, and then the whole family is Fresno-bound.
Asked if he’s excited to go to America for the first time, 10-year-old Shaker flashed a big smile, head nodding. But for now, his dad says, he wants to take a nap.
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