[Music]
five years ago I found myself standing
inside of a narrow hallway in the chant
roast alle soup kitchen for Refugees
located near the center of Rome an
Afghan man with a small carry-on luggage
in hand approached me he was wearing a
light green dress shirts beige pants and
could have easily been mistaken for a
tourist you are a journalist he said
almost in relief and certainty he began
to share his story in search for a
better life this man had left
Afghanistan four years ago to join
countless Afghan asylum seekers setting
sail for Europe after reaching Greece he
traveled to Norway to seek asylum during
that period of time he managed to find
work and go to school he became a
nursing attendants a computer technician
a DJ and a pianist whose music made the
front page of the paper in his local
City he pulled out the educational
certificates and newspaper clippings
from his luggage to show me by any
standard he is a success story however
what I learned next was anything but
despite all of these achievements his
asylum application was denied he ended
up in Italy and it was only a second day
when I met him at the time my sister and
I were documenting the stories of
refugees and asylum seekers in southern
Europe for our project called
living at the border I asked him if I
could share his story there was a pause
and he became more anxious when he
answered you are like every other
journalist you’ll come for my story
today and disappear tomorrow to work on
your next story well it’s still my
reality he added that unless I could
guarantee em the help he needed he was
not going to share I was not in a
position to make that promise
I left the soup kitchen that day without
his story and a feeling that I’d never
experienced before
although I heard similar comments from
other refugees questioning the impacts
of their personal stories the encounter
I had with this man was unexpected for
me I was beginning to realize that
oftentimes in the West many people are
desensitized to news however these
refugees were desensitized to
journalists and the work that we do on
that day I learned an important lesson
that we as storytellers often forgets
stories don’t end I believe that it is
vital to explore narratives in a way
that generates understanding and creates
hope for one another’s journeys through
storytelling our task is to expand the
dialogue we have the opportunity to
introduce our friends families
communities audiences into different
worlds and ideas that are often untold
or misunderstood since that day I’ve
spent the past few years documenting the
stories of people who live on the edge
the margins of society in 2012 I
co-founded an independent production
company called borderless films with a
goal to create impact through
storytelling my focus on the stories of
refugees stems from a personal place my
family came to Canada as refugees from
Somalia in the early 90s stories have
the ability to impact the way people see
the world and themselves in the case of
refugees there are often grouped in
statistics and defined in numbers in
mainstream media and today they’ve
become a symbol of tragedy while the
numbers are meant to show the large
scale impact of forced migration
it can also dehumanize refugees and
desensitize audience responses to their
suffering that’s why it is our duty as
storytellers to dig deeper look for
different perspectives and highlight the
multiple narratives of
Fuji’s so what happens when storytellers
take that initiative you will find
stories of hope in the darkest of places
you’ll find stories that remind us we’re
more similar than we think
stories like Bari , yogurts housed in a
former abandoned textile factory is very
common yoghurt a micro income project
that was created by five young refugees
from Senegal Mali and Ivory Coast they
sell and produce organic yogurt in Rome
I spent time documenting their stories
and I learned that these young men were
part of the 2010 revolt in the farming
fields of Rosano they were illegally
employed as farm laborers in the town
they were exploited and harassed after
three African men were shot on the way
home from work the refugees took to the
streets these five young men ended up
going to Rome and from there the founder
Suleiman connected with a social hub to
create bari cameo Gertz which means
resistance in his native language of
Bambara three years later I followed up
with Suleyman and today they’re
operating in a commercial building and
have created more jobs for refugees
they’ve integrated into the fabric of
Italian society this is a story about
what happens when refugees create their
own opportunities
my recent observational documentary film
called 19 days that was produced by the
National Film Board of Canada is a
window into the lives of refugee
families first few weeks in Canada over
11,000 refugees have walked through the
doors of the Margaret Chisholm
resettlement center in Calgary Alberta
since 1994 this unique facility was
designed in the form of a house to ease
the transition of refugees up to 70
refugee families lived there for 19 days
and during that time they’re given a
crash course into Canadian society from
learning about education to how to open
a bank accounts and healthcare
from a Burundian family that has spent
their entire lives in a refugee camp to
an urban refugee family from Syria this
film shows you the human side of the
refugee resettlement process and the
many phases of the global migration
crisis our goal for this documentary was
to advance the dialogue on how we can
create more inclusive societies for
refugees in our world like the Afghan
refugee the young men from Bari common
yogurts and the refugee families on
their new journey in Canada as you can
see everyone has a unique story and
everyone evolves and that should be
respected when documenting their stories
as storytellers and media consumers we
must realize that stories do not end
when the camera is turned off and the
interview is finished stories have the
ability to shape who we are they can
inspire us rebuild us or in some cases
as we all know stories have the
potential to harm and if we’re lucky
some stories can leave a lasting impact
on our own lives thank you
you
five years ago I found myself standing
inside of a narrow hallway in the chant
roast alle soup kitchen for Refugees
located near the center of Rome an
Afghan man with a small carry-on luggage
in hand approached me he was wearing a
light green dress shirts beige pants and
could have easily been mistaken for a
tourist you are a journalist he said
almost in relief and certainty he began
to share his story in search for a
better life this man had left
Afghanistan four years ago to join
countless Afghan asylum seekers setting
sail for Europe after reaching Greece he
traveled to Norway to seek asylum during
that period of time he managed to find
work and go to school he became a
nursing attendants a computer technician
a DJ and a pianist whose music made the
front page of the paper in his local
City he pulled out the educational
certificates and newspaper clippings
from his luggage to show me by any
standard he is a success story however
what I learned next was anything but
despite all of these achievements his
asylum application was denied he ended
up in Italy and it was only a second day
when I met him at the time my sister and
I were documenting the stories of
refugees and asylum seekers in southern
Europe for our project called
living at the border I asked him if I
could share his story there was a pause
and he became more anxious when he
answered you are like every other
journalist you’ll come for my story
today and disappear tomorrow to work on
your next story well it’s still my
reality he added that unless I could
guarantee em the help he needed he was
not going to share I was not in a
position to make that promise
I left the soup kitchen that day without
his story and a feeling that I’d never
experienced before
although I heard similar comments from
other refugees questioning the impacts
of their personal stories the encounter
I had with this man was unexpected for
me I was beginning to realize that
oftentimes in the West many people are
desensitized to news however these
refugees were desensitized to
journalists and the work that we do on
that day I learned an important lesson
that we as storytellers often forgets
stories don’t end I believe that it is
vital to explore narratives in a way
that generates understanding and creates
hope for one another’s journeys through
storytelling our task is to expand the
dialogue we have the opportunity to
introduce our friends families
communities audiences into different
worlds and ideas that are often untold
or misunderstood since that day I’ve
spent the past few years documenting the
stories of people who live on the edge
the margins of society in 2012 I
co-founded an independent production
company called borderless films with a
goal to create impact through
storytelling my focus on the stories of
refugees stems from a personal place my
family came to Canada as refugees from
Somalia in the early 90s stories have
the ability to impact the way people see
the world and themselves in the case of
refugees there are often grouped in
statistics and defined in numbers in
mainstream media and today they’ve
become a symbol of tragedy while the
numbers are meant to show the large
scale impact of forced migration
it can also dehumanize refugees and
desensitize audience responses to their
suffering that’s why it is our duty as
storytellers to dig deeper look for
different perspectives and highlight the
multiple narratives of
Fuji’s so what happens when storytellers
take that initiative you will find
stories of hope in the darkest of places
you’ll find stories that remind us we’re
more similar than we think
stories like Bari , yogurts housed in a
former abandoned textile factory is very
common yoghurt a micro income project
that was created by five young refugees
from Senegal Mali and Ivory Coast they
sell and produce organic yogurt in Rome
I spent time documenting their stories
and I learned that these young men were
part of the 2010 revolt in the farming
fields of Rosano they were illegally
employed as farm laborers in the town
they were exploited and harassed after
three African men were shot on the way
home from work the refugees took to the
streets these five young men ended up
going to Rome and from there the founder
Suleiman connected with a social hub to
create bari cameo Gertz which means
resistance in his native language of
Bambara three years later I followed up
with Suleyman and today they’re
operating in a commercial building and
have created more jobs for refugees
they’ve integrated into the fabric of
Italian society this is a story about
what happens when refugees create their
own opportunities
my recent observational documentary film
called 19 days that was produced by the
National Film Board of Canada is a
window into the lives of refugee
families first few weeks in Canada over
11,000 refugees have walked through the
doors of the Margaret Chisholm
resettlement center in Calgary Alberta
since 1994 this unique facility was
designed in the form of a house to ease
the transition of refugees up to 70
refugee families lived there for 19 days
and during that time they’re given a
crash course into Canadian society from
learning about education to how to open
a bank accounts and healthcare
from a Burundian family that has spent
their entire lives in a refugee camp to
an urban refugee family from Syria this
film shows you the human side of the
refugee resettlement process and the
many phases of the global migration
crisis our goal for this documentary was
to advance the dialogue on how we can
create more inclusive societies for
refugees in our world like the Afghan
refugee the young men from Bari common
yogurts and the refugee families on
their new journey in Canada as you can
see everyone has a unique story and
everyone evolves and that should be
respected when documenting their stories
as storytellers and media consumers we
must realize that stories do not end
when the camera is turned off and the
interview is finished stories have the
ability to shape who we are they can
inspire us rebuild us or in some cases
as we all know stories have the
potential to harm and if we’re lucky
some stories can leave a lasting impact
on our own lives thank you
you
Please follow and like us: