UNHCR Video Story-Telling Project: 1 Life 1 Story
Who better to tell the story of refugees than refugees themselves? In recognition of its 60th anniversary, UNHCR in late 2010 began documenting the lives and reflections of refugees, internally displaced and stateless people around the world–from Somalia to Afghanistan, Colombia to Iraq. UNHCR staff, working with journalists and refugees themselves, interviewed people of concern on the borders of conflict zones, in camps, urban settings and countries to which they had been resettled. Subjects have been interviewed on every continent; they include doctors, businesswomen, high school students, mothers looking for a way to protect their children and fathers ensuring their families’ survival. The result is more than 60 multimedia stories, published on the web, YouTube, facebook and other social media channels. The stories have reached hundreds of thousands of viewers. These are stories told by witnesses themselves about conflict, famine and genocide but also survival and recovery. They are stories of loss but also of inspiration and hope. The videos have been shown to school children, government ministers and film festival patrons. UNHCR continues to gather such accounts with a view to raising awareness globally about the true nature of the refugee story.
Tarik
”When the soldiers come in your apartment, it’s over.” Tarik Demirovic, 41, grew up in the picturesque former Yugoslav town of Mostar, on the Neretva River. Twenty years ago, when Bosnia-Herzegovina descended into civil war, he tried to stay on, growing accustomed to the danger and the new reality. But eventually he was faced with a stark choice: stay in the city that he loved but risk his well-being and possibly the lives of his family, or escape with them to a country that he did not know and start anew. Demirovic chose to leave. His family received refugee status from the UNHCR office in Mostar. He himself traveled first to Germany and then on to Norway, which had accepted his family as resettled refugees. As a new arrival in Norway, Tarik did not speak the language, but quickly found work on a farm and went on to flourish in his adopted home. Demirovic is currently director of Manpower Professional Engineering, an Oslo-based consultancy with more than 38,000 professionals employed daily in 80 countries around the world. He is married with two children. “It’s very difficult to leave your home.” he told us. “But when the soldiers come in your apartment, it’s over. There is really a question about life and death. My decision was to become a refugee.
(video length -5:04 min.)
Rahim
”At that time I could see death” Abdul Rahim, 24, was born in Pakistan after his family fled the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. His family lived in Azakhel refugee camp in Pakistan’s north-west, until their home was destroyed in the devastating floods of summer 2010. Abdul Rahim almost drowned and lost everything he owned. Luckily, he managed to salvage his refugee card, which allowed him to claim UNHCR assistance in the form of tents and relief supplies. For now, Pakistan remains his adopted home but he and his family hope to return to a peaceful Afghanistan one day.
(video length -3:33 min.)
Sahar
”All of them died except for one.” Sahar is a 19-year-old student from Baghdad, Iraq. She is the eldest of five children and daughter of a mechanical engineer. In 2005, her mixed neighbourhood in Baghdad was overrun by insurgents. Her younger brother was killed, another was kidnapped and their house torched.The family fled to neighbouring Syria, where she is studying and taking language and sculpture classes as part of a UNHCR-funded program (in collaboration with the Danish Refugee Council.) UNHCR is also helping with rental subsidies. Sahar writes short stories and works with clay. She says that it’s in her nature to be a ” silent person” and her art reflects that.
(video length – 3:18 min.)
Railya
”I am stateless.” Railya Abulkhanova, 36, was born and raised in a family of five in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan and was studying in Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving her citizenship in question. She surrendered her permanent registration card in Kazakhstan upon leaving to study in Russia. A subsequent application for naturalization in neighboring Uzbekistan, based on her work there as a university professor, failed as well. In 2008, she applied for papers in Russia but later withdrew them when she married a French national and moved with him to France. She is now living in Lille as the wife of a French citizen but without a passport. She is stateless. Because of her lack of naturalization papers, Railya says she has been unable to find work in her chosen fields despite possessing a PhD, eight years teaching experience and fluency in six languages including French. She has worked as a professor of languages and French Literature and is the author school texts in Uzbekistan.
(video length – 3:57 min.)
Scisa
“When I dream, I just dream bad things.” Scisa Rumenge was born in 1981 near the town of Bunia, in eastern Congo, then known as Zaire. In the late1990’s, he and his family –together with their entire community– were targetted on the basis of their Hema ethnic background. After losing his parents, brother and sister to an attack on his village, Scisa fled to another part of the country, where armed men imprisoned him and other young men who refused to be recruited into their ranks. He was beaten and suffered repeated concussions. Scisa finally managed to escape, under cover of darkness, and fled to neighbouring Uganda. He later made his way to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and the UNHCR office there. UNHCR determined that he was a refugee and sent him to live in Kakuma, a major camp for people fleeing violence and persecution across east and central Africa. He stayed for six years. Fearing to be alone, he made friends with a Somali Bajun family who adopted him informally as their son. He still suffers from nightmares: “I felt like my head was almost bursting, because the experiences I hadin my mind,” he said. But he nurtured somehope that things would change. He loves music and football and filmmaking, having been introduced to film in Kakuma by the NGO FilmAid. He was resettled to the US in 2011 and today is studying film in Seattle, Washington.
(video length -3:59 min.)
Zamzam
“Life in Mogadishu is very hard especially for women.” Zamzam M. Deg Ahmed, 38, is a mother of ten from Mogadishu, Somalia, who sold dried goods in the main market to support her family. Her husband left the city last year after militants tried to kill him. She fled by truck with her children in November, surviving a hijacking along the way. She is now living in a shantytown on the outskirts of the northern city of Galkayo. UNHCR is helping woman like Zamzam with small loans and other forms of assistance that help families survive on their own.
(video length – 2:59 min.)