To give some context-- I spent about 6 hours at the refugee camp, during which time I was able to conduct 8 to 10 good interviews. I think the real gravity of these stories is only understood when you realize that these posts werent handpicked for emotional heft -- they were a completely random sample. It makes you realize that each of the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Syrian conflict are carrying around their own tragedies, often filled with horrifying complexity and detail, complete with their own cast of characters, many of whom are no longer part of the story. One of the paradoxes from my visit was the levity with which some of these stories were told. Often the subject would stop mid-story, to make a joke, or remark on something mundane. This man in particular had a very active sense of humor. When I asked my translator about this discrepancy between tragic story and upbeat storyteller, he shrugged, and said: Life must go on. It was a phrase I heard a lot that day.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 08:20:24 +0000
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