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Mystery syndrome - Why are refugee kids falling into comas?

June 1, 2024

A Roma family from Kosovo hopes for asylum in Sweden. The young son dreams of escaping his oppressive everyday life in a spaceship on Mars. Meanwhile his sisters have fallen into a mysterious, stress-induced coma.

https://p.dw.com/p/4gWhq

The sisters Ibadeta and Djeneta are both teenagers. Their family, Roma from Kosovo, is trying to obtain asylum in Sweden. The outcome of the asylum procedure is uncertain. Fear of deportation, money worries - all this leads to a mysterious illness in the sisters: it is known as "resignation syndrome" and occurs again and again in children and young people who are going through asylum procedures and are threatened with deportation. The family is trying to build a normal life far from their original home in Kosovo, where they suffered persecution. While the parents strive to save their daughters from death and wait for news about their immigration status, the youngest son Furkhan dreams of traveling far beyond the snow-covered surroundings of his current home, to a peaceful life in the vastness of space. Furkhan wants to build a spaceship and leave the difficult reality behind him - his sick sisters, his precarious situation as a refugee. The idea of ‘waking up on Mars’ is a metaphor for the fates of people who have had to leave their homeland and live in fear for their future.

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Exciting stories, a wide variety of topics, fascinating pictures: every day, half or three-quarters of an hour of carefully researched background reports from the worlds of politics, business, science, culture, nature, history, lifestyle and sport.