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Time to turn refugees into humans again
Europe, December 8, 2016 – refugees, their flight, their lives in the camps. That is all the world talks about.
That they are people, like you and I, gets forgotten too often. With www.projectlifejacket.com, over 20
European NGOs shift the focus on these humans and draw their life stories from before they had to flee onto
life jackets.
These life jackets have become the symbol of the unnamed refugees. The project intends to
catapult the refugee crisis back on the agenda of politicians, the media and the European public.
Currently, an estimated 60 million people globally are on the move. Humans, who are stigmatised by a singleword: refugee. Often associated with criminal behaviour, violence and poverty, it gets forgotten all too quickly that these people led normal lives before they had to flee.
That is why the Swiss NGO "The Voice Of Thousands", supported by "Borderfree" and "Schwizerchrüz", has
initiated Project Life Jacket. "We visited Syrian refugees in camps in Greece and drew the life stories of nine
persons onto the life jacket they wore during the passage", says Michael Grossenbacher, joint initiator of Project
Lifejacket and co-president of The Voice Of Thousands.
The drawings bear witness to their lives before the war, their lives before they had to put on a life jacket, and
with that, the stigma 'refugee'. This message is impressively conveyed in the short documentary, the illustrated
life jackets and the interactive platform www.projectlifejacket.com. The project is funded and supported by
organisations and clubs from all over Europe.
Nine life jackets, nine life stories
Ismail Nerebani, one of the nine portrayed persons from the Thessaloniki camp in Greece.
The 36-year-old father of two daughters was born in Aleppo and studied French literature. "We were very happy
with our life; we did not lack anything. Then the things happened", Nerebani thinks back to his life in Syria before
the war. The life stories of Ismail Nerabani and eight other people who fled, were captured onto real, used life
jackets taken from the shores of Greece for Project Life Jacket.
On www.projectlifejacket.com the whole world can experience these life stories first-hand through interactive
life jackets and interviews. "This initiative not only intends to be thought-provoking, but also to provide
opportunities to support it meaningfully and with direct impact", adds Grossenbacher. The platform allows for
supporting one or more involved organisations, and hence the people affected, through donations of money and
goods and provides the opportunity to get personally involved.
Hashtag: #projectlifejacket
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectLifeJacket
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXyYyUwFRxQaPWRyazY6ohg
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProLifeJacket
0:00-00:24
Driving through areas of Thessaloniki, Greece.
00:24-00:35
The refugee camp „Sindos Karamanli“ in Thessaloniki, Greece, shown from the outside.
00:35-02:15
Different scenes of the interior refugee camp „Sindos Karamanli“ in Thessaloniki, Greece: Kids playing, refugees walking around and music / ambient sound inside of the tents.
02:16-02:22
The 47-year old lawyer and father Esmail Dukhil from Deir ez-Zor, Syria, holds the life jacket illustrated with his life story. In the background is the warehouse “Sindos Karamanli” in Thessaloniki, Greece where 600 Syrian and Iraqi refugees are being temporarily housed.
02:23-03:18
The illustrator drawing the life story of a Syrian refugee on a life jacket, which was used for the crossing to Lesbos.
03:19-03:27
The 42-year old businessman Ahmad Hassino from Aleppo, Syria. He and his family are in temporary accommodation in the “Sindos Karamanli” warehouse in Thessaloniki, Greece.
03:27-03:43
The illustrator drawing the life story of a Syrian refugee on a life jacket, which was used for the crossing to Lesbos.
03:44-04:13
The 21-year old photographer Abdel Azeez Dukhan from Homs, Syria, telling his life story to the illustrator.
04:14-04:31
The 22-year old barber Abdel Kareem Darweesh from Harran al-'Awamid, Syria telling his life story to the illustrator.
04:32-04:52
The 36-year old French teacher Ismael Nerabani (during some scenes together with his daughter) from Al-Raqqah, Syria, telling his life story to the illustrator.
04:53-05:10
The 48-year old mother Ghalia Hassino from Aleppo, Syria talks in an interview about her life story.
05:11-05:44
The 39-year old vet Farooq Saadi from Al-Shaykh Maskin, Syria, conversing in his tent in the “Oreokastro” refugee camp in Thessaloniki, Greece.
05:45-06:03
The 47-year old lawyer and father Esmail Dukhil from Deir ez-Zor, Syria, talks in an interview about his life story.
06:04-06:17
The 25-year old teacher Abeer Alhariri from Daraa, Syria, talks in an interview about her life story.
06:18-06:48
Four of the nine interviewed refugees reacting to the handover of their very own life jacket bearing their personal life story.
SUBTITLES for ‘AP_Schnitt_Lifejacket_06_12_16‘
00:03:48:12
Personally, I had never seen a dead body or things like that up to this point.
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00:03:53:16
But I saw a lot of destruction and airplanes.
00:03:56:24
00:04:19:17
If you have money you can go anywhere you want.
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00:04:26:17
But most people are stuck there because they do not have any money.
00:04:31:08
00:04:39:02
With my family, when I was a kid I was very happy.
00:04:42:19
00:04:44:13
We had a very good time with each other.
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00:04:57:02
We took him to the hospital again and the doctor was surprised that he was still alive.
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00:05:04:04
They thought he had died long ago.
00:05:06:21
00:05:08:23
And they said that he needs another surgery
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00:05:18:06
The situation in our village is different from all the other regions.
00:05:21:16
00:05:22:05
The area was divided into three parts.
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00:05:27:16
A part with the regime, on both sides. The southern quarter is with the regime.
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The other area supported the free army.
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00:05:45:18
Sometimes, me and my wife wish that we had stayed in our own house
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until it was struck by a rocket and we would have died.
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Then we would not have suffered such a long time.
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If Syria would have stayed safe we would never have left.
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00:06:08:23
My poor parents were forced to move from one area to another.
00:06:12:10
00:06:13:03
Whenever the troubles started they moved to a safer area.
00:06:15:20
7 December 2016
