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In conclusion, a better healing will come when I find out
what really happened. Did her boat capsize? Did my wife
miss a step? Or something like that? Was it a strong wind
or whatever? Did someone hear what her last words were?
Just to know her very last words or to find out what has
really happened. How rough was her trip? It is very, very
important to me and I believe for my family, too. Because
it’s part of our healing process, knowing what really
happened. Remembering her positively and doing and
thinking what she believed, because she has been quite a
drive in my family. She was strong and was always pushing
us forward and we always miss her. Doing what she loved
most will always keep her alive and will keep us moving
on with our lives.«
On the February 14, 2011 Mr J.K. went on his own to the
Police Headquarters in the Evros region (Orestiada and
Alexandroupoli) trying to find out whether there was a
woman detained under her real name. The only African
woman found that match his description had drowned in
the river close to the dates he had given to the authorities. He requested a DNA test and in mid-August, after
sevenmonths of delay and anxiety, the answer came: the
woman found dead in the river, in state of advanced
decomposition, was Mr J.K.’s wife.
Fenced graveyard of Sidero in October 2011
13. Lost and dead at the borders
On August 30, 2011 a small fountain in Provatonas, Evros,
was dedicated with a commemoration ceremony to the
dead and the lost of the Greek-Turkish border. Mr. J.K.
came and spoke in memory of his wife and all the other
victims:
»It’s a year now. You realize it has taken time to know what
really happened. Now the papers have shown us the truth:
that Jane is gone, having drowned on the very day of her
border crossing on September 20, 2010. We accept this
very reality. She is not among us anymore. But I do believe
she will always live among us. She was a great lady, a
mother, a wife, a daughter to her loving parents, a sister
to her sisters and brothers, she is missed, but… She was
great and she really left a legacy … Her death has been a
terrible moment, we recall this. A year is quite long!
A year of mourning. A year of sleepless nights. Such a hard
experience and a very rare one. Not many people have had
this kind of experience. It is not my wish that anybody goes
through this kind of experience. It is something that needs
to be prevented. It is something hard. It goes beyond my
description.«
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