For Rama

Kif Kif contributor Nour Sweid fled the war in Syria in 2016. He wrote two texts about his experiences on the flight, and also recited them at the latest edition of Club Kif Kif.

By Nour Sweid

For Rama,
She wanders among the rubble of her dreams, besieged by pain from every direction. Her memories hang between the treads of tanks in Aleppo as she attempts to salvage what’s left of the joy of her wedding. She’s like Palestine, standing alone, exhausted and tired, and I’m like Syria, standing nearby, helpless and depleted. She hides herself from herself when her tears flow, and I remember the gifted handkerchief from the sky.

Interrupting all of this, the boatman informs me that my journey is about to begin. I rush toward the boat, but in the last moment, I turn to say her farewell. As I turn, I see that I’ve distanced myself. I follow with my eyes the waves of her far cloak, flipping in the air like the tail of a flying bird. For a moment, I almost catch its edge, but at the last second, it slips away, and her specter disappears behind the sea waves.

Yet, with an unusual optimism, I shout, promising her a soon reunion.

Nour Sweid witnessed the beginning of the Syrian war and fled with his family from Syria to Istanbul in 2016. He crossed the Mediterranean to Belgium in 2022. He knows what it means to be a victim of violence, war and migration, what it means to be an outcast. That is why he makes the stories of war victims and asylum seekers his main themes. He always tries to shed light on the suffering of people in vulnerable circumstances and those whose voices are not heard. He studied film and dreams of making his own film.