Alhaji Kamara has written a poem called ‘Thank You to SASS’, in his book Afromantic. Alhaji has been part of Swansea Asylum Seekers Support for nearly 20 years. He lives in Birmingham now, but he comes back here whenever he can!
Here he is reading the poem on our YouTube channel:
For Refugee Week 2022, our Hafan Books project has created showing of this wonderful short film, composed of Kurdish voices and Welsh animation, made by Shahsavar, Lucy and Tom. The film was made with support from the Arts Council of Wales, and in collaboration with the Open University’s Covid Chronicles from the Margins project. It grew out of multilingual children’s stories and animations, which you can view on the Hafan Books website.
Shahsavar Rahmani is a professional interpreter in Swansea, originally from Kurdish Iran. Shahsavar interviewed dozens of refugees from Kurdish Iran and neighbouring countries for the Covid Chronicles project. He narrates the film, which presents five interviewees and their stories of persecution, flight, resistance, and hope. Interviews are in Kurdish (Sorani), with English subtitles. Poems by Sherko Bekas and sayings in Farsi and Kurdish frame the film.
Lucy Donald is a professional artist in Burry Port, South Wales. She created striking images and stop-motion animations inspired by interviewees: the title proverb, Ebrahim’s idea that a refugee is like a transplanted tree, the traumatic channel crossings. The images accompany the stories, rather than illustrating them, adding emotive layers.
Tom Cheesman is a retired academic, trustee of Swansea Asylum Seekers Support, and editor of Hafan Books. He secured a small grant for this project from Arts Council of Wales, worked closely with Shah on subtitling and audio editing, and used Audacity and Movavi to assemble the film.
Watch the short animated film, ‘No Friends But the Mountains’, here:
Though the UK has welcomed people trying to escape war, poverty and torture for decades, seeking asylum there can be a long and painful process that often leads to detention. The authorities say they are addressing the issue but are they doing enough to help people start a new life?
A powerful dramatisation of the UK asylum interview process. All the stories shown are based on real asylum interviews.
How does asylum in the UK work?
Britain’s asylum system is a mixture of government bureaucracy and private provision of housing.
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