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Bhahar’s $4,000 arrived. “I was so happy,” he smiled. He could now go to Europe. Traffickers came before dawn and drove him and other boys, southwest to Izmir, on the Aegean Sea, with high rises, winding streets, outdoor cafes, tourists, and NATO ships. Greek islands beckoned across the blue water. They stayed in a house for a few days and then smugglers drove them in vans to a forest where about 70 boys were waiting. The men took them at night to a rocky cove where the boys boarded a small, rusting boat. The pilot was drunk. The boys sat on deck and they left, and wind came up and waves lashed the side and the engine stopped. “Now we die,” we cried, said Bhahar. But the waves sent the boat back and it crashed into shore.
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