{"id":4640,"date":"2017-10-28T12:30:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-28T09:30:50","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2019-01-29T11:45:49","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T09:45:49","slug":"ali","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/en\/faces-stories\/ali\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Ali\"
Ali (Syria), 2017<\/em>,\u00a0Gicl\u00e9e fine art print, 160 x 120 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ali<\/strong>
\n40 years old<\/strong>
\nSyria<\/strong><\/h4>\n

When I was informed about the Museum1<\/sup> programme, I was not sure if I wanted to participate.\u00a0I had never been in a\u00a0museum and had\u00a0never\u00a0visited\u00a0an exhibition.\u00a0But something made me\u00a0go to the first meetings and then to take the decision to take part.\u00a0So,\u00a0I realized that there is something new to do, which\u00a0is\u00a0interesting.\u00a0I was able to\u00a0meet new people\u00a0and\u00a0learn new things.\u00a0With our discussions, the ideas and experiences\u00a0shared\u00a0by the group, my mind was cleared from concerns. I was given the opportunity to think of something different and perhaps to change the way I see things.<\/p>\n

It was interesting we all2<\/sup> saw the works in our own way.\u00a0For example, looking at the work of\u00a0Bia\u00a0Davou,\u00a0Sails,<\/em>\u00a0I thought\u00a0that the\u00a0map\u00a0of Syria looks like this installation.\u00a0In Davou\u2019s project,\u00a0each\u00a0sail occupies its own special\u00a0place;\u00a0it has its\u00a0own\u00a0limits as well as its own colour.\u00a0Something similar happens in\u00a0Syria\u00a0map,\u00a0which is divided into Governorates and\u00a0Districts;\u00a0each Governorate and each District is marked\u00a0on\u00a0the map with its own colour and its own\u00a0borders.<\/p>\n

Before the war,\u00a0in Syria,\u00a0Christians and Muslims used to live harmoniously.\u00a0In my neighbourhood there was a church and a mosque.\u00a0I had Christian neighbours and there was no problem between us.\u00a0One family participated in the feast and mourning of the other.\u00a0In this\u00a0area,\u00a0since ancient times, different religions\u00a0and\u00a0different cultures have coexisted.\u00a0What is happening today has not been initiated by the people.\u00a0I do not believe that the cause of the war is religion.<\/p>\n

Of the projects we saw in the\u00a0Museum3<\/sup>,\u00a0I was moved the most by Hopscotch<\/em> by Vlassis\u00a0Caniaris.\u00a0I think that this work expresses all refugees.\u00a0Personally,\u00a0it reminded me of how I felt as soon as I arrived in Turkey.\u00a0I did not know anyone, or the language, and I did not know what to do, where to start and how to go on.\u00a0My suitcase was the only object I could lie down on, rest and think for a while.<\/p>\n

I identified with the man seated on his suitcase, who looks as if he was tortured by the decision he had to take, by the dilemma of whether he should stay in his homeland or leave. I experienced this\u00a0dilemma, too.\u00a0Deciding to leave was not easy for me. I had my doubts.\u00a0I had to leave my wife and two daughters behind.\u00a0This doubt still exists deep inside.\u00a0Even now, I sometimes think that I shouldn\u2019t have left them.\u00a0But if my one hand was burdened by the concern for my wife and children, preventing me from leaving, the other hand was pulled by the need not to take part in such a war.\u00a0I dislike violence. I do not want to hold a weapon. I do not want to harm anyone. I do not like blood.\u00a0I want to live a peaceful and safe life with my family.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just that I have left my wife and children behind. What worries me the most is that two years have passed since I left Syria and I haven\u2019t yet managed to do anything for my family, to be able to bring my wife and daughters here. I want to settle somewhere permanently, find a job so that we can all live together in a safe place.\u00a0I do not care about where I’m going to be, as long as we’re all safe together.\u00a0I worry for my\u00a0wife,\u00a0because she is alone taking care of our daughters.\u00a0I do not know how she manages. I talk to them in the morning, at noon, at night.\u00a0I want to know what they\u2019re doing, if they\u2019ve arrived home, what they ate.\u00a0My wife is working as a teacher. My older daughter is six and is in first grade, and\u00a0the younger one is four and goes to kindergarten.\u00a0For a working woman with no help, things\u00a0are not easy, the responsibility is huge. Not to mention that the place where our home is located is not completely safe.<\/p>\n

The last month\u00a0and a half\u00a0I\u2019ve been living in a building, in a room of my own.\u00a0I’m very happy that it has a balcony where I can sit and relax.\u00a0Every morning, when I wake up, and in the afternoon too, I have my coffee there and listen to music.\u00a0You see, back in Syria I used to take my coffee on the terrace and listen to music.\u00a0There, I liked to listen to Fairuz,\u00a0a famous singer\u00a0in\u00a0Syria, while here I sometimes listen to Greek\u00a0music and\u00a0other times,\u00a0songs from Syria.\u00a0When I left the\u00a0camp,\u00a0the first thing I thought of was to\u00a0see if my room had a balcony.\u00a0It’s my favourite part of the house.\u00a0On my balcony in\u00a0Athens,\u00a0I have the opportunity to continue this favourite habit I have from home.\u00a0So, even if the room is small, the fact that I can keep up this routine makes me feel at home.\u00a0The other day when it was raining, I was enjoying the autumn weather4<\/sup> and the feeling of the rain falling on the terrace. It \u00a0made me think even more how beautiful it would be to have my little daughters here, taking them for long walks in Athens, wandering around the city streets, at\u00a0the amusement park,\u00a0by the\u00a0sea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1\u00a0<\/sup>Refers to the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>Group during the meetings of which his narration was recorded at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>Refers to the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>The story was recorded in autumn 2017.<\/p>\n

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Audio Files<\/strong><\/h5>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]\u0395\u03bb\u03bb\u03b7\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03ac<\/p>\n

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English<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/mp3\/Ali-E.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/mp3\/Ali-A.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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\u0641\u0627\u0631\u0633\u06cc<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/mp3\/Ali-F.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\n[vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]Slovensk\u00fd<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/mp3\/Ali_40_Syria.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1511022388651{margin-top: 30px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text] Ali 40 years old Syria When I was informed about the Museum1 programme, I was not sure if I wanted to participate.\u00a0I had never been in a\u00a0museum and had\u00a0never\u00a0visited\u00a0an exhibition.\u00a0But something made me\u00a0go to the first meetings and then to take the decision to take part.\u00a0So,\u00a0I realized that there is something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":18,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4640","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4640"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7928,"href":"https:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4640\/revisions\/7928"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faceforward.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}