Kalimat كلمات

Kalimat,

Stories of women refugees

Storytelling has an important healing power to help survivors of Trauma transcend their painful experiences. By relating their stories in their own words, survivors feel empowered.

“Kalimat” will take you on a journey to discover how devastating the effects of war can be in transforming human lives in a glimpse, denying people of their history, their families, their rights as human beings, and casting them into their new identity as Refugees.

While moving to a culturally open society like Canada could be a dream come true for people fleeing persecution, this could be particularly challenging for refugees who come from rural or conservative societies. Women typically are the most affected. They find themselves compelled to provide for the family, manage their household , and learn a new language. As mothers, they are also expected to help their children adapt to a new educational system and help them with their homework in a foreign language. Dealing with their own war trauma, adds yet another layer of challenges. With no education and no proper training, this becomes an extremely difficult endeavor.

The idea of this project originated when a Syrian woman refugee I was helping settle in Toronto, expressed the need to “talk to someone ”, someone who “spoke her own language”, someone she could trust. She chose me “because I was a woman who understands her culture”, thus can appreciate her struggle.

It is in this context that this project was developed. The rationale was to encourage Syrian women refugees to use the power of storytelling to put their traumatic experiences into words, using their mother tongue language, Arabic. The importance of Oral History being that it “serves as a denunciation of their suffering and gives some positive meaning to their experiences as well as brings them together into a support network” (Herbst, 1992, p141).

As a practitioner trained to work with survivors of Trauma, I encouraged the woman to verbalize their experiences, focusing on their emotions, listening, showing empathy and emphasizing their courage and endurance.

In my work, it was paramount to highlight and use the term survivor, connoting strength and resilience, rather than the term victim. It was equally important to create a safe space, where they could use their own language, to express their feeling and emotions. Being able to speak in Arabic, had a huge impact on the women as they felt empowered when relating their stories.

Through the group sessions, the women shared their struggles in Syria, in the refugee camps, and in Canada. The sessions were full of tears and laughs as they found themselves surrounded by fellow women who “get it” , women who have experienced war and displacement, and who understand what it means to be a refugee

When we discussed the idea of making these stories known to the world, the women were very excited and felt empowered. It was important for them to finally have a voice so that their hardships would be known. We decided to publish these stories in a website instead of a book to enable more women in the future to be part of this project.

Kalimat ( Words in Arabic) , was meant to be culture specific, validating the women’s narrative and making their voices heard. Translating the stories into English was meant to reach a wider audience from different cultures.

I conclude by quoting Richard Flanagan: “Refugees are not like you and me. They are you and me. That terrible river of the wretched and damned flowing through Europe is my family. And there is no time in the future in which they might be helped. The only time we have is now.”