(21 Dec 2021) Bushra, a Syrian Kurdish refugee, had already walked for 60 hours through the wet, dark forests of Poland, trying to make her way to Germany, when she twisted her knee.
Earlier, her road companion and best friend had fainted during a panic attack as Polish border guards chased them.
They hid in ditches and behind trees before the guards found them and pushed them back across the border into Belarus.  
They soon set off again, bedraggled and wet, on the same trail.
After twisting her knee, Bushra persevered and dragged her right foot behind her through the rain and freezing temperatures of the forests.
Finally, they reached a Polish village where a car took them across the border into Germany — for a life they hoped would be free.  
Bushra, who asked that her last name be withheld for her own safety, is the face of the new Syrian migrant.
More Syrians are leaving home, even though the 10-year-long civil war has wound down and conflict lines have been frozen for years.  
They are fleeing not only from the war’s horrors, which drove hundreds of thousands to Europe in the massive wave of 2015, but from the misery of the war’s aftermath.
Nine out of 10 people in Syria live in poverty.
Approximately 13 million people need humanitarian assistance, a 20% increase from the year before.
The government is unable to secure basic needs, and nearly seven million are internally displaced.    
More than 78,000 Syrians have applied for asylum in the European Union so far this year, a 70% increase from last year, according to EU records, the largest single nationality after Afghans.  
The numbers are far below the levels of 2015, but desperate Syrians are still racing to get out.
Social media groups are dedicated to helping them find a way. 
Some users ask where they can apply for work or scholarship visas. 
Others seek advice on the latest migration routes, the cost of smugglers, and how risky it would be to use assumed identities to get out of Syria or enter other countries.  
Belarus briefly opened its border with Poland to migrants this summer.
It created a standoff with the EU, which accused Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating illegal migration in retaliation for European sanctions against him.
Bushra was one of only several thousand who managed to get through from Belarus, where 15 died trying to make the trek.
She left for Minsk from Erbil, Iraq, in late September – the start of a harrowing odyssey.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Bushra recounted how she and the other migrants survived on biscuits and water for days and how six of them slept sitting up on a single dry mat.
Her friend broke a tooth shivering from the cold.  
After the forest ordeal, they had to hide in a ditch at one point when a police patrol with sniffer dogs came to check their car.
Riding along the highway, Bushra removed her head scarf to avoid suspicion at checkpoints.
She finally reached Giessen a month later on October 12.    
Bushra’s life in Syria had been in upheaval for years as she and her family lived in fear of violence
Threats were made against Bushra after she exposed a corruption case involving powerful local officials and she hardly left the house for two years.
Working with an international aid group, she eventually saved up enough money to leave.
Gaining asylum and residency in Germany is her gateway to freedom.
Bushra hopes to study political science to understand the news, which she boycotted since the war started to avoid scenes of the atrocities she was already living. 
Going back to Syria is impossible, she said. 

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