The storyteller:
Sharlei is Somalian and has been living in Sweden for eight years.
Summary:
The first day in Sweden Sharlei sent her children to the shop to buy food. No-one in the family could speak or understand anything except Somali. The children took a bus and went shopping, but on their way home they took the wrong bus and ended up far away. Sharlei didn’t know were they were, so she tells about a day in anxiety, worrying and crying.
The storyteller:
Dimitra, an Albanian woman living for 26 years in Greece, has told another story.
Summary:
She tells as a story about the first house they rented in Thessaloniki.
Preparing her family to come to Greece she was always talking about the unique light of Greece. After they arrival they rented a basement where the windows were only 50 centimeters high. The only things they could see were feet of the people walking in front of their window and car tires. Her son who was six years then asked her if that was what she meant about the unique light of Greece.
They stayed six months in this basement and then they moved to a new apartment full of light!
The storyteller:
Dimitra emigrated 26 years ago from Albania to Greece.
Summary:
She tells as a story from the first years they were living in Greece. Her daughter went to high school and Dimitra worked as a house cleaning lady.
One day Dimitra was on the bus going home after a long day at work. She was very tired and almost sleeping, as on a bus stop six or seven beautiful girls got in the bus – and one of them was her daughter.
As soon as she understood that her mother was in the same bus the daughter tried to get off because she was with her Greek friends and did not want to present her mother who was a poor migrant lady cleaning houses.
Her daughter tried to step down the bus as the door closed and she fell down and hurt herself. Dimitra did not move to go close to her so not to be recognised as her mother…they never discussed it.
The storyteller:
E. is a woman coming from Azerbaijan and living for 6 years in Germany. She doesn’t want to have her name published, but nevertheless wish to share her story.
Summary:
It is shown in the tale, that the words which live in Writing country want to choose their own king. They assert sometimes Point, sometimes Exclamation, sometimes Question, sometimes Comma as a candidate. But this punctuation marks, that each one of them express different regime, are criticized, rejected and deficiencies oft them are displayed.
The storyteller:
Rita moved from Hungary to Austria. She arrived there in 2013.
Summary:
I had a really bad at work, intact the whole day was a big disaster, but a tiny small smile and gesture of kindness from a little child swept the bad mood away.
The storyteller:
Zhara emigrated from Afghanistan to Austria where she has arrived three months ago. That’s why she decided to tell her story in English.
Summary:
As an Afghan it was a very difficult time growing up and trying to study Arts in Afghanistan. I found a way around it and got needed skills for making decor items, accessories and bridal clothing. Luckily I have moved to Austria and the future looks very bright.
The storyteller:
Aida is from Albania. She came to Greece when she was fifteen years old, studied in high school and then went to a vocational school to become a hairdresser.
Aida got married very young at her seventeen and has two grown up children.
She is now living for 21 years in Greece
Summary:
Aida tells a story about her name, because she is very proud of it.
Her name was given to her because in Albania during that time she could not be baptized and get her Christian name that was Charitini after her grandmother.
When she came to Greece and still until now as soon as she is asked her name, the first question is where are you from? so from the beginning she says my name is Aida and I am from Albania.
When Aida came to Greece, she was amazed by the lights on the streets and the houses and the cars on the roads. She did not know a lot about Greece because was prohibited by the system in Albania then to talk about Greece or any other country.
The storyteller:
Bebe is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She came with her husband in Greece fifteen years ago.
She is a very active person in the Panafrican Womens Association and in their church. She is very proud of her origin and dresses only with her country’s fashion clothes.
Many women stop her on the street or wherever she goes to ask her why she is wearing her head-wrap (Dhuku). Bebe answers that it is a communal identity and signifies resistance and she is resisting to change her clothes and her identity.
Summary:
Her story is not actually a story but is a pray in Lingala, her mother tongue.
The storyteller:
Gewahar moved only six months ago from Yemen to Austria. She wants to share her story with you, but feels more comfortable to tell it in English.
Summary:
After getting a scholarship to do my masters in the University in Innsbruck Austria, the next few months struggling to get a visa and journeying to Austria was a whole new experience for me. Some things were foreseen but others came unexpected.
The storyteller:
Katleen is Colombian and moved first to Spain and later to Italy. She has been living for six months in Italy.
Summary:
It is a story that shows that even in simple things you can find something to tell. It was just a day while a girl was waiting for her boyfriend, and a whole story came. There are the elements of reality like the blue dress, the waiting girl and the late guy, (in the story I decided to give a more decisive ending, he does not come), all this to show that you can tell a story of everything, that sometimes we also become the story.