The Human Voice Project Update

The deeply poignant writings from the hearts of people in Vial Refugee Camp will be exhibited in Los Angeles and Phoenix over the next week.  This has been made possible by Kayra Martinez the founder of the grass roots organisaton Love without Borders Link – Love without Borders .  I was inspired by the work Kayra does with refugees and asylum seekers in Greece, primarily because she aims to provide support with dignity.  Love without Borders provides painting equipment for artists (both professional and inexperienced) so they can express themselves through art.  The art work is then sold and the proceeds are returned to the artist.  I know from experience that this project has – quite literally – saved lives.

Below is a painting I purchased from Love without Borders, which has pride of place in my house!!

Kayra had the idea of extending the project to include pieces of written work – and so The Human Voice Project was born.

The Human Voice Project aims to provide displaced people living in refugee camps in Greece the opportunity for their voice to be heard. Having witnessed people coming to Vial Refugee Camp, leaving behind their homes and livelihoods and becoming just a number in the ‘system’ we wanted to make a change. The ‘system’ is designed to take away peoples’ independence and spirit – just another body standing in a queue waiting and waiting for their case to be heard, sometimes for years. We wanted to say, “we see you, we hear you, we stand in solidarity with you.” We also wanted to share their human stories as they are not statistics and their name is not ‘refugee’, they are individuals and they are our brothers and sisters.

The Human Voice Project has in its care the precious words from 25 people from 11 different countries in 5 different languages.  We want to celebrate their individuality and uniqueness – they are not numbers or statistics, they are brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers…..

…..and so it begins, Love without Borders will be respectfully sharing these stories – we should listen with our hearts.

I cannot explain in words how incredibly moving these texts are, from people who have been forced to leave their homeland.  I pride myself in always aiming for empathy – detesting sympathy – but its hard to imagine just how gut wrenching it is to be uprooted from your life.  So I leave you with the words of I. from Palestine describing how he misses home.  At the time of writing I. was living in a small ‘festival style’ tent in the Vial.

“When I wake up exhausted and tired, I imagine I am at home.  I stand up to see my mum only to realise I am not home anymore.  I am thankful to those dreams to allow me to revisit those places and people I love and long for.  Those dreams that take me back to my humble house and the rusty ladder I used to climb to roof of our house. ”

I. from Palestine, July 2019