MEMORIES
WHEN WE WERE YOUNG
Click on any picture to meet the person
Every Passover, my uncles and my father used to buy 5 sheep and put them in the yard. After a couple of days, the butcher came and “did his job”. One Passover, when I was 7 years old, my parents told me to go upstairs but I stayed in the yard, hiding behind a small wall… I saw how they tied the sheep, hung them upside down on an iron hanger and slaughtered them.
I felt like my father was living in prehistoric times, performing a pagan ritual.
I felt shame…
I like football, and sometimes I play, too.
I follow the team named Esteghlal, one of the two main teams in Tehran. In the big Tehran derby they play against Persepolis. The derby is the biggest sport event in the country and one of the biggest derbies in the world.
Most of my childhood memories are not pleasant, I’m afraid. They are shaped by turbulent times during the first Intifada. I would like to say something nice about my childhood but I don’t remember much. Demonstrations, sirens, tear gas and curfews are all I remember.
When I was six, my friends and I used to steal the shoes of the people who were praying in the mosque.
One day, we were caught and our parents took away all our shoes and made us walk barefoot for an entire morning.
Sometimes I go to visit little girls and boys who have cancer.
They’re so open hearted. Whenever I open the door, they come up and give me a group hug.
They are my little angels
I remember two embarrassing moments in my life. The first one was the day I got food poisoning in the first grade and pooped my pants halfway home. The second one was the day I came home naked from school on a dare.
Me, age 1.
I once asked my mother: “Why do you always cry when you hear the names of certain people?”
When I grew up, she told me that in 1991, Saddam Hussein’s regime had executed 11 people from our family because they were Turkmen. We are not the only family who suffered from Saddam. Thousands of us have been killed for the same reason.
My two sisters are my best friends. They are both doctors as well.
Any issues I have with my girlfriends, they are always there to tell me what to do.
Moving to Turkey tore our family apart.
I remember the day we left.
Most of the families came with two bags. We came with two cars and two full trucks.
The last time I looked back at our house most of our neighbors were raising their hands and waving goodbye.
At the border gates, there was a queue extending as long as 5-10 KM. When we finally crossed the border, a nationalist Turkish band was playing an old Ottoman military march on giant speakers for us.
I thought that I was sleeping, that I would wake up and discover that it was only a nightmare!
My mother and I in Bulgaria.
8.
A group of guys woke me up and asked me to play football with them. I was tired, but they insisted. I played with them until I almost passed out. After the game I told them my story.
They said:
“You are
the
dumbest
person
ever.”
They invited me to stay the night and one of them even offered to drive me to the town of Guercif the following day. They live in much poorer conditions than I, but they are still happy and thankful.
Aleppo! You could see the citadel right in the city center, high atop the hill.
From there you can see all of the city’s new buildings. The old city surrounds the citadel like stars around the moon. Allepo’s people are famous for the good food, the textile industry, and because everybody is nice to strangers. These are so many things, but now I don’t know what’s happening there.
As a child, I constantly tried to avoid seeing reality. But as I grew older things changed and I started to become involved in trying to change the place in which I live.
I look up to my mom. She is an amazing woman, but we are very different!
She’s very calm and gentle. She respects everyone and chooses to see only the good in other people.
Her semolina cookies are the best in the whole wide world.
My parents on their wedding day.
I’m a translator and a writer.
I was born in 1981 in Jerusalem, I live in a village near Ramallah.
I like the countryside better than cities.
The village is where I find my peace.
Lac Tiberias 2001
I regret not teaching my grandma to read in Hebrew.
Born in Libya, she came to Israel already speaking Hebrew, Italian and Arabic! She was 70 years old when she asked me to teach her to read and write Hebrew and I always promised: “Next time, granny!” I thought that she was too old, but I was wrong. She was so smart and curious, and all she wanted was to read a newspaper in Hebrew.
She passed away when she was 102 years old!!!
My father was a very dominating figure. He had two wives; my mother was the second one. I grew up seeing him control everything and everybody. He was a perfectionist and always criticized my mother for everything.
I hated when he criticized the food she cooked.
With my parents.
1.
I am very passionate about movies and I’ve been working on a script for almost two years.
I pictured the main characters to be James Franco and Seth Rogen so I’ve been trying to get the idea to the two of them by any means possible.
My mother is Algerian. One month before my birth, she was in Algeria, visiting her family. But when she decided to return to Kuwait, where my father was working, the authorities prevented her from flying because of her pregnancy. I was lucky, because if I had been born in Kuwait my name would have been Mohamed. That is what my father’s family in Gaza wanted.
My aunts in Algeria wanted to call me Rami, and I am happy with my name.
My mum is from the Philippines
My dad from Ghana
They met in Lebanon
I was born in Cairo, Egypt
I am an Israeli
My mom was a nurse, and my dad was working in the embassy of Ghana. When I was 3 months old, my dad had to return to Ghana.
I have not seen him since then.
Me, age 3.
I have this particular memory of walking back and forth for hours on top of a stone wall in my neighborhood, making up stories. I was free to dream, and the wall on which I paced had an incredible view of Jerusalem.
I love to listen to Fairouz, Pink Floyd, classical music, and Sufi music. I love watching the Simpsons and Family Guy.
I’m a daughter of a Palestinian refugee who was forced to leave when he was 3 years old. My mom is a Syrian woman who experienced the civil war in Beirut.
