March 2023 Student Spotlight: Hassan Mohamed
Hassan Mohamed was born and raised in Sudan. He has lived in the United States for only a year and just finished his first semester at Monroe Community College. As part of an interview assignment for his ESOL class, Hassan’s grandfather shared an unbelievable story from the past, and Hassan retells it here. Hassan dreams of one day becoming a doctor.
Alone On the Sea
My grandfather's story is more like a fantasy adventure movie than a true story. I am amazed by how ignorant we are about many things about our close family members, especially when it only takes one thing: talking. It took me less than a couple of hours to learn about an amazing experience my grandfather had. Since I was born when he was already in his early fifties, I do not remember him when he was young. Now, even though he has reached the age of seventy, he can walk more than I can and has a strong physical condition that makes him appear much younger than he is. He has walked every day and eaten the same thing ever since he was thirty years old. In making decisions, my grandfather is always calm and wise, but he is so sharp and firm at the same time, which may have something to do with his profession as a judge.
The story started in 1967. He was a young man with a good life. “Since I was the oldest son of a merchant, I was looking forward to having an enjoyable life in my village Jlas, which is in the northern part of Sudan,” he said. However, my grandfather was unlucky because he had to fight a battle that nearly destroyed him. His life changed, and he lost everything because of the weather and climate change. “It stopped raining that year. Our crops had died, and the sheep were barely alive.”
He had to find a way to provide for the big family who relied on him. “A few of my cousins and I decided to travel to Europe.” Everything began on that fateful day. My grandfather still remembers it like it was yesterday. “After Jummah prayer, we gathered. As usual, the situation was frustrating and everyone was complaining. Then Awad, my oldest cousin, said he was thinking about going to Europe, and he asked who wanted to join him. Everyone said, ‘I want to join,’ so we started to prepare and after a week we were ready.” Their decision of traveling to look for work might seem normal, but they would have to travel illegally sailing on dangerous equipment that wasn’t designed for that long of a trip.
According to my grandfather, the first group consisted of six people from the village, but after they arrived in the capital, three decided to stay and work in the capital, thus forming the second smaller group, which ended up with three people, my grandfather, Awad, and a friend.
Here we are at the beginning. After leaving the capital, the three traveled to Egypt and then to Libya, where they met others. "We joined about 90 people and the captain, and we used a fishing boat called the Somboic, which could handle up to 40 people, but all 90 jumped on board," he explained. It was the beginning of the journey. After two days of sailing a big storm befell them, surrounding them and making them lower the sails. “After the storm calmed down, we saw a small island with nothing but sand. While we were resting, the captain said we could stay the night there. We did a lottery to decide who would stay on the boat and who could stay on the island. My cousin Awad and I stayed on the island. In the morning, it was a shock when we woke up to see that the boat was not there anymore.” When was grandfather telling me this, I was in disbelief as I asked him, “They left you?”
Grandpa continued, “Everyone asked the same question except Awad. He said to give them the benefit of the doubt. He was sure something happened, and they would be back to rescue us. Then he took the lead. He was the only one who had taken drinking water and some dates from the boat, and he shared it fairly among us. After two weeks, the first man went down.” Grandpa explained that after burying him, Awad said they would dig 14 graves for the rest of them, so that meant only the last person would not have one. Day after day, people kept dying. Awad was gathering everything he could find on the beach and built a roof to cover them from the sun. Sadly, after days without water or food, death invaded the island leaving only two people alive, my grandfather and Awad.
My grandfather and Awad were alone on an unknown island. After burying the last person, Awad decided to build a boat from the small roof they had, but it turned out to be only big enough for one person. “Now you and Awad and a boat for one person, what happened next?” I curiously asked.
“He was so tired and ill after building the boat, and I was younger than him, so he told me to take him to the last grave and wait for him to die and bury him. And I was not okay with that, but he said ‘Either you survive or neither of us do. Don’t let my effort go down the drain.’” We stayed there for two days by the grave. Then he passed away. I buried him and sailed.”
Grandpa explained that after one day he fainted because he was directly under the sun with no food or water. “When I woke up, the first thing, I saw were fishermen from Libya.” The fishermen helped him and took care of him until he could walk and talk. Then they offered him a good job after they heard his unbelievable story. Even though the job would make his life better, he could not forget what happened and went back home to tell the story to everyone in the village.
After a year, he decided to leave to go to college and get a law degree. The farmer became a lawyer for 10 years and then a judge. "I didn't want to go back home to the same problems that caused me all the misery, so I went to college," he explained. My grandfather did his best to take on Awad's financial and emotional responsibilities for his mother and family, and he continues to do so. I am close to Awad's grandchildren like they are my blood cousins because my grandfather treated them as his own family by buying them a house near ours, in which we resided all our lives. Now, after I learned the depths of what Awad did for my grandfather, I understand why he has done all of this for them.
ESOL Voices a collection of stories written by ESOL students at Monroe Community College. This publication highlights our MCC students who come from all over the world. Look for new stories in the Tribune. We hope you enjoy our students’ stories as much as we do.
Katie Leite & Pamela Fornieri, ESOL Program, March 2023