Photographer: Niraz Saied
Graphic artist: Moaz Sabbagh

While you are reading these words, a blockade by the Syrian regime on the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in the south of Damascus, still goes on.

For more than 500 days, the Syrian regime has been blocking food, electricity and medicines for the Yarmouk camp. For more than 100 days, water is no more distributed. This situation is increasing the continuous suffering of more than 20,000 civilians with no hope of it ending.

More than 170 people have already died, including children according to Yarmouk News. Children of this siege are living in the worst nightmare imaginable. They no longer have the luxury of playing in the streets. Now their days are consumed with the fear of being targeted with bombs.

We should not forget that millions of Syrian children live in the besieged area as well as in refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. Their childhood is being wasted. They have no hope for the future, nor a chance to relive their childhood the way it should have been.

These posters are letters from children who live in the Yarmouk refugee camp.

The pictures below were taken by the photographer Niraz Saied, who won the 2014 Youth Wins UNRWA / EU Photography Competition and Moaz Sabbagh is the author of the posters.

Moaz Sabbagh

Membre de la rédaction valaisanne de Voix d’Exils

Photographer: Niraz Saied.
Graphic artist: Moaz Sabbagh

Photographer: Niraz Saied
Graphic artist: Moaz Sabbagh

Photographer: Niraz Saied.
Graphic artist: Moaz Sabbagh

A refugee camp in Northern Uganda. Author: Ed
(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The year 2013 seems to be a breakthrough for the Tel-Aviv and Canberra administration in terms of cementing their unwelcome attitude towards refugees. Though it might be contrary to international law, Israel and Australia have come up with a new approach towards Asylum.

It all started in July when news came out that Australia was to start exporting the refugees entering the country by boats to Papua New-Guinea. The two nations from Oceania have since signed an agreement whereby refugees are now going to be sent to settle in Guinea instead of Australia. Of course, the latter will be funding the program which is a first of its kind. Possibly due to sharing some similar history, Israel, also in the month of August, was reported to be willing to export African refugees to Uganda, an East African nation.

There is a tale of a renowned Greek scientist, Archimedes, who is credited of finding a way of measuring the volume of irregular objects. This discovery happened accidentally when he entered into a tub and noticed that the water level increased as a result of his action. He suddenly understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had just submerged. Well, the tale continues to mention that upon realizing his discovery, he shouted EUREKA and ran out of the house naked to celebrate. I am sure that the Australian and Israeli government are happy with their draconian solution but as they shout Eureka, it’s Papua New-Guinea and Uganda that are showing their nakedness to the whole world by supporting a controversial arrangement.

As I mentioned in the beginning, Israel and Australia share some history whereby they are both relatively young nations whose foundations were built on misfortune; the convicted ancestors of modern Australians were pushed away from the United Kingdom in order to settle in a strange land thousands of miles away from their relatives. For Israel, the history is still recent; the Israeli nation was formed 70 years after the horrors of German concentration camps. No other nation in world history has known the challenges of being a refugee than the ancestors of the modern Israelites.

The persecution of Jews dates back to the middle ages. In 1396, 100,000 Jews were expelled from France. In 1421, thousands were expelled from Austria. Many of the expelled Jews fled to Poland. The trend of their killing and persecution reached its crescendo in the 20th century when Hitler’s evil anti-Semitism led to the death of millions. Actually the Jews were in the same bracket as the blacks (being the unwanted). I would therefore have expected more from the Israel nation, having shared the experience of persecution to handle the refugee burden in another way.

The amazing paradox came from Uganda, in 2010, when the Kampala administration had been pushing out the Congolese refugees back to Congo yet the M 23 rebels continued to terrorize Eastern Congo. One wonders as to why the Ugandan government is trying to portray a good humanitarian image of itself, yet the Congolese and the Rwandese refugees are being pushed out of the country. Those who still remain are mistreated and their children are being denied access to education and are also frequently beaten by the Ugandan police. There is no explanation to why Uganda cooperated with Israel apart for financial reasons. Uganda’s respect of human rights is very low and a certain percentage of refugees in Israel might have run away from their countries due to lack of respect of human rights.

For the past 5 years, Uganda has closed more than 6 private radio stations twice and the police keep on brutalizing opposition leaders…so it leaves a lot to be desired that Israel chose such a country to send its refugees.

When Uganda was still a colony under the control of the British, there was an idea of creating the Jewish state in Uganda in 1903. The meeting was held in Basel, Switzerland. The next year, a three-man delegation was sent to inspect the area. Its high elevation gave it a temperate climate, making it suitable for a European settlement. However, the observers found a dangerous land filled with lions and other creatures. A hundred years later, the problem of Uganda is not one of dangerous animals and other creatures but that of the dictatorship of President Museveni, who has been in power with an Iron fist for the last 28 years. This makes Israel’s decision of sending vulnerable refugees to Uganda an inconsiderate step.

As the world keeps walking on the road of turmoil and life becomes more dangerous, the rise of extreme nationalism and protectionism will see more countries signing covert agreements with the underdeveloped, « underdog” countries. Maybe the words “Every man on his own and God for us all” will be heard more and more as countries continue to close their borders to refugees.

Marcus

Membre de la redaction valaisanne de Voix d’Exils

Switzerland, Thoune. Photo : T@H!R (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

A couple of weeks ago, during a long chat, a friend asked me: «How easy is it to integrate into Swiss society?» She happens to be a native of this country. My answer was, «It’s not easy but if you really want to, you can».

My mind then quickly reflected on the words of a well known South American revolutionist, Che Guevara, who said «Revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall». Integrating into the Swiss society needs a gradual change of both mind and body. You might say it is just like that everywhere but the Swiss community is particular. With strict time keeping of the public transport, extreme cleanliness and several languages, one has to put in lots of effort to fit into this unique society.

I remember the first day I saw snow. I spent some extra minutes in the window admiring the wonders of God, to a person who comes from an equatorial climate; you can imagine how I felt. This though made me miss a train that eventually led to arriving late to work. At that time, I was attending an occupation program at Botza in Valais. My supervisor was not happy and I was sent to explain to the overall Supervisor. On that day, I learnt that in Switzerland, be it snow or sunshine, work is work and time is time. In my country, the day seems slower and more relaxed.

Some months ago, as it’s an arrangement in our commune to have dinner each month with all the people from the commune, one of the people, a retired doctor asked us how we were finding the commune. We complained of people being so reserved. He told us something that I will never forget: He said «Here no one needs to look for friends, many people have their families and friends with whom they share with the same culture. It’s up to you as new comers to try to make friends. I am sure we are welcoming; inviting you to such dinners is an indication that we love you and we want to be with you. Those of you who are Christians, try to go to church, you will meet people there, talk to people and always be good…». The old retired doctor, I take him as one of the most sincere people I have ever talked too. I highly value his advice.

Being in the asylum process, waiting to be accepted or not into Swiss society as reminds me of the road to Jericho. This oldest inhabited city in the whole world is depicted as a unique city below sea level surrounded by mountains. For those of you who read the bible, you will know the popular story of The Good Samaritan. I will not bore you with the whole story but what we know is that the road to Jericho is a winding, meandering road. It’s really conducive for ambushing. As the process of the asylum application meanders, you get ambushed by stress, mistrust…

As you meander around waiting for the answer from the authorities about your asylum application, you hardly sleep well during the week as police can easily pick you up any morning. I did not know that people can stay in prison for months without a crime!! I can tell you that I get my good sleep only on Saturday and Sunday mornings. To those who make it Jericho, miracles happen there!

Allow me to also continue to paint the relationship between some people here and the refugees. To some, every refugee is a Samaritan. As you all know, the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans was not so good. That is why when a Samaritan helped the Jew who had been beaten on the way to Jericho, he came to be known as The Good Samaritan. I would love to tell you, not every refugee is a criminal. A few times, some young people end up asking you for drugs just because they think everyone your color is a dealer.

Many of us have families, children, young brothers and sisters so we cannot allow the young generation to waste in the lovely country that is hosting us.

I totally appreciate the care given to refuges here. In Africa, refugee camps are made of tents. Many of you have seen such images in television and fellow Africans know what I am talking about. I am so happy that here one gets a chance to sleep like a human being with some dignity. Where else can you find such care? The willingness to teach you a new language to fit into the society is also something special.

I have come to learn so many things in the period I have been around. One of the most important things is endurance just the way good soldiers do. It’s also important to think positively, to concentrate your thoughts on things you can change and leave those that you cannot change.

Marcus

Membre de la rédaction valaisanne de Voix d’Exils