Enab Baladi-Urfa
“Syrian tunes moving from one Turkish city to another to attenuate the Syrians’ suffering,” this is how the 22-year-old Omar Al-Jarou from Deir ez-Zor described the training workshops that are regularly organized by “Bedayat Lahn” band in Turkish cities. These workshops, which ended on Friday, April 28 have been positively received in Urfa among the Syrians in that city which “lacks these cultural activities”, according to them.
Fatima describes the band “Bedayat Lahn” as ” wonderful young men who passed like the breeze in Urfa, leaving behind them lots of beautiful memories that we have experienced for four days of uninterrupted work.”
Along with about 30 of his colleagues (five in each workshop), Omar trains the Syrians in Turkish cities on narrative storytelling skills in order to express their feelings in the best possible way, making sure it reaches the largest number of auditors. “Our goal is to break down the hurdles in front of young people and encourage them to be active participants in community work and intercommunication,” says the young man to Enab Baladi.
The training workshops are part of the program “Me We Syria,” and Fatima (22 years) who took part at the Urfa workshop, says: “It created hope and opened up new horizons for self-expression for us in a secure place.” This enabled them to produce a short film “with primitive tools “.
Fatima said that a large number of participants “opened up their hearts and talked about their stories”. She insisted that “these young people helped me discover new potentials within me, which created additional positive energy that transformed my life and enabled me to release my abilities and invest them for the benefit of the community.”
Omar , who studies Civil Engineering at the Turkish Osmaniye University along with his colleague Bassel from the Deraah governorate, said in an interview with Enab Baladi that work for this program helped him to personally identify diverse cultures and enabled him to be more involved in communication with others.
“Bedayat Lahn ” is a volunteer team whose headquarters are located in the Turkish Osmaniye governorate , comprising Syrian faculty members from different cities. It started to exercise more than a year ago, targeting different age groups in order to raise awareness and develop community work.
The team program is similar to many other programs that have been applied in more than one country, such as Algeria and other African countries that witnessed bloody conflicts, and it was awarded an international award after it was presented by the Syrians in Osmaniye, Mersin, Hatay, Urfa and Gaziantep. The output of the program trainees was films that illustrate the stories of Syrian Youth.
The young man says that he and his colleagues are keen to reconcile between their studies and community work, in an attempt to leave a good impression in every place they visit, pointing out that the program “has a special place in my heart, memory and experiences, for I have started to feel that I do belong here where we can help others.”
Sultan Abbas, 23 and member of the team, thinks this kind of help contributes to the development of positive energy and the transcendence of despair, weakness and indifference, “to be transformed into hope, optimism, love and a desire for life.” He also pointing out: “When we conclude each workshop, we notice the positive impact we leave, and this is what we want to achieve by creating change makers.”
Sultan, a young Kurd from the city of Qamishli, who studies Energy Engineering at the Osmaniye, believes that the success of the team’s work, and the effect it leaves “is clear when we see the beneficiaries crying after the workshops finish,” something which he considers as proof of having reached their hearts despite age differences and the difficulties they might face.
Team members agree that their work “has increased their sense of responsibility towards the groups they work with, and enabled them to deal with others smoothly as well as adapt to different environments.”
The young man Omar concludes his speech, stressing that common thinking, and with the help of the program director and its executive director “has enabled us to correct the mistakes and carry on performing Syrian tunes that transform the Syrians’ sadness inside and outside to a joyful smile.”