It has been a long time since I updated this blog in June 2017. I have been busy since working on different things, finished my masters, got my first grant to produce my first solo show and performed in a few poetry events across Manchester.

A  few days ago I had the chance to perform my multilingual poems at an event at Elizabeth Gaskell House celebrating UNESCO International Mother Language Day as part of Manchester UNESCO City of Literature events! This event organised by Commonword Cultureword.

Manchester has been successful in its bid to join UNESCO’s worldwide Creative Cities network as a City of Literature.

This is a poem I read at the event for which I received super positive feedback from the audience.

Land of my childhood

 Home, my home

whenever I think about you

my hands want to change into wings ready to fly

till the horizon grows larger and larger and swallows me and I soar high and far till I reach you

I want to see you again

I want to go down the childhood alleys

to the hills covered with grapes

I’ve missed your mountains, your deserts

I still hear the lullaby my grandmother used to sing

the one that made me cry

sad stories of the past sung

so children are thankful for what they have

 

لالالا گل گندم، چی اومد بر سر مردم

لالالا  گل پونه، بابات رفته درخونه

لالا لال گل زردم ، نبینم داغ فرزندم

 

our small clay home was my paradise

we had green plums and mulberry trees

we didn’t have roses like other neighbours, but it didn’t matter

because we had hens and pigeons and cats and bees

ما توی دشت ها می دویدیم و دنبال پروانه ها می کردیم

و به شاخه های درخت توت لگد می زدیم

و از آب کهریز ماهی می گرفتیم

و در قنات شنا می کردیم

و زیر آسمان پر ستاره می خوابیدیم

those hot summer days when we ran through fields

and cold summer nights when we slept on the rooftop

I have missed your mosques even though I am not a Muslim

I have missed your churches even though I am not a Christian

we have been through a lot sweetheart, me and you

you might have changed after all these years

but you have stayed faithful in my imagination

If I come back some day, will take me in?

whoever I’ve become when I return?

 

Another refugee week festival this time in Salford. Organised by the British Red Cross, Rainbow Haven, mrsn, and a few other charity organisations across Greater Manchester. Come along and enjoy a fun day out.

The Refugee Week Festival Event in Manchester on Saturday 24th June. The event will take place from 10am-5pm at Albert Park, Grecian Street, Salford, Manchester M7 1JF. The festival will involve a Refugee World Cup Football tournament, Family Fun Day and Community Picnic all taking place in Albert Park. The plan is to celebrate music, advocacy, education, sport, food, arts and crafts through a number of fun activities and performances.   There are three main areas: 1.       Family Fun Activities: Bouncy-castle, face-painting, musical performances tent and other activities. 2.       Football World Cup: The World Cup will involve a number of teams playing in a round-robin tournament at the park 3.       Community Picnic Food: Food will be provided for everyone who attends the event   The aim of the event is to encourage integration between refugee communities and local residents. Past events have been very successful and we plan for this to be a really fun and fantastic day.

It’s festival season in Manchester and Refugee Festival is coming with events taking place across the country.

Our beautiful city is recovering from a brutal terrorist attack that took many lives including children’s.  People putting flowers in St. Anne’s Square, and Arena centre in memory of those who killed in the attack. It’s the time that brought people together, a sense of community that everybody is feeling these days.

Meanwhile, 2 massive suicide bombing in Iraq and Afghanistan killed many civilians, women and children among them. What an absurd world we live in!

Our City, Our Home, is a special event for Refugee Week, organised in conjunction with Manchester Refugee Support Network (MRSN) and Z-arts to celebrate the positive contribution that refugees make to the UK.

You can join the festival on 23 June from  4 pm – 8:30 pm. It is going to be an evening of live performances, food, music and dancing. Everyone of all ages and backgrounds are welcome to attend free of charge.

There will be plenty of activities and entertainment for all ages including:
– Children’s Workshops
– Face painting
– Henna
– Exploring culture through objects
– Jam session – bring along an instrument or borrow one of ours and join in with the music making

There will be a performance from Neda Naser as well as the premiere of new performance pieces. These will be created especially by our Artists in Residence.

I will be collaborating with the festival as an artist in residence to create a piece of poetry. Please share the news and let your friends know.  Here is a link to the event on Facebook for you to like and share if you wish:

Last month, I had the chance to read my poems at the Holocaust memorial day at Huddersfield University.  The memorial is not just a simple act of remembrance. It is a great event of growing relevance: personal testimonies of past atrocities and present-day persecutions were at the heart of 2017’s Holocaust Memorial Day.

6 Million Charity Trust:

The event organised in conjunction with the 6 million+ Charitable Trust. It was titled They could not erase us, and it drew its inspiration from the experiences of three women who have survived attempted genocide. Iby in Czechoslovakia and Hungary under the Nazis, plus the more recent experiences of Jasminka in Bosnia with its “ethnic cleansing”, and Fatima in Iraq, where former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein persecuted the Kurds.

Iby Knill, the Holocaust survivor, concluded the event with a reading of her harrowing Holocaust poem I Was There.  Listen to her beautiful poems .

Julia her granddaughter, gave a lovely speech. She told us how being the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor had affected her life and beliefs. ”We all have a responsibility to protect life .both our own lives and the lives of others. The differences between us are what make us so special.  If we forget that difference is okay, that we are allowed to disagree with each other, then we forget what it is to be human.”

 

From  facebook page:

UPDATE RE DIANNE. A SMALL VICTORY BUT NOT THE END OF THE BATTLE:

According to , Dianne has had her deportation deferred whilst her right of appeal is assessed. If true, this is PHENOMENAL but nowhere near the end!

Dianne will still be detained in Yarl’s Wood whilst her case is reviewed. We NEED to keep up the pressure!

There is a campaign going on in Manchester for Dianne Ngoza, a woman from Congo who is in  danger of being  deported.

I met Dianne last year at Methodist church in Manchester. I was volunteered to work with MSM ( Migrants Supporting Migrants) in a project called ” Migrant Echoes” which was a Media project aimed to strengthen  migrants and ethnic groups. Dianne was one our interviewees.

Dianne has come to England more than 15 years ago on a visa and tried to renew it but  complications encountered in the process and she tried to apply for leave to remain. All her attempt failed and she is now taken to Yarl’s wood to be deported to her home country. I have visited Yarl’s Wood last year and wrote about it on this blog.  It is a terrible place. Detainees do not enjoy fresh air and they have to eat potato everyday.  Yarl’s wood is not providing with adequate food for Dianne’s vegan diet.

On November 16 when Dianne went to Dallas Court to report (there is an obligation for all migrants who do not have status to report weekly, or monthly) she was taken inside by home office officers. They attempt to take her out in a van but people blocked the road, so they turned back. People stood in the rain the whole day so that home office had to negotiate and promise they will take her to Pennine House at Manchester Airport,  they never did. She’s been given removal orders for Wednesday.

Dianne is not a criminal and she does not have to be kept in a horrible place like Yarl’s Wood. I call it refugees Guantanamo.

Please listen to her story and spread the news. We as human beings have a duty to support her and fight for freedom of refugee prisoners.

Follow news here; http://www.rapar.org.uk/dianne-ngoza.html

Listen to the interview

 

 

It has been long time since I updated this blog due to my university assignments  ( I am doing creative writing /MA). However, I have been reading news everyday and there is a lot to talk about. Most importantly, is the Calais refugee camp in france which has  been shut down and hundreds of refugees  were taken  on buses for accommodation centres elsewhere in France and a few of them were brought to the UK.

I was very keen on doing a project about Calais refugees last year, but I was unable to secure financial sources for it and the project remained on paper. I was going to write their stories and record them to be used as fictitious monologues on stage here in the UK.

In videos I watched on the news websites, people were upset because they felt like they were being removed from their home. According to an estimation by aid organisations, the number of people in the camp had reached an all-time high of almost 10,000.

Ten thousands people in cold winter and hot summer lived in tents, with no electricity and drinking water. It sounds almost like living in the war zones.

I hope French new policy allows Jungle refugees to live a decent life in france.