LAST WORDS FOR THE ROAD
  • THE BOOK
    • Spain & Portugal
    • Belgium
    • South East Asia
    • Greece
    • Europe
  • Latest quotes/news
  • Publications
  • About
  • Contact

Ramy - Lesbos Greece - 2017

11/5/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
A few days into my volunteering with Lighthouse relief in Greece,  I sat down for a coffee at Goji’s Café and befriended a Syrian guy named Ramy. Ramy had apparently crossed about a year ago, and after some time in the camps, managed to establish himself in Skala where he volunteered as a translator for the newly arrived refugees. He was still waiting on the answer for his asylum status.
I could trace a kind and cartoon-like smile through his heavy beard, and he had a bulky laugh that made his whole body shake as he chuckled. I liked that about him. But it also contrasted greatly with the shades of darkness in his eyes
When Ramy and I weren’t playing chess or smoking cigarettes together, we would talk about his life back in Syria. About his job and his latest 3D animations, about silly memes we’d seen on the internet and about our families and ex-girlfriends. And sometimes, we would talk about how he got to Europe.
That’s when he avoided eye contact the most, as the story that he lived was a grim one; of his boat capsizing in the middle of the night and having to swim for eight hours until he reached the beach with a torn life jacket in one arm and the body of a lifeless child in another… But if Ramy’s eyes were evasive, it wasn’t because of the content nor the nature of his story. I felt him avoiding my eyes because it wasn’t the first nor the second time that he shared his story and that he faced the questions that ensued...

​Read more here...


1 Comment

    "Last words for the Road" by Lauren Klarfeld

    Book-in-the-making : A  collection of hand written quotes left by the people I met on the road (7 years and running)

    Archives

    July 2021
    October 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    March 2016
    February 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Categories

    All
    Fear

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.