Mobile messages tell stories of refugees fleeing war

DUBAI: “Daddy, where are you now? In Turkey or Sweden?” a Syrian girl asks her father in her first voice message to him since he joined hundreds of thousands fleeing the war. The recording, sent by smartphone, is one of many messages between Syrians that Jordanian photographer Tanya Habjouqa has compiled into her short film “Syria Via WhatsApp.” The film, which is being shown at an exhibition in Dubai, focuses on the plight of refugees and migrants, including Syrians, as Europe struggles with its biggest migration crisis since WWII. The show, “If I leave, where will I go?,” also displays images by Syrian director Omar Imam and late French-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui. Habjouqa’s film features voice recordings and images exchanged by Syrian family members separated by a five-year conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people and pushed nearly five million into exile. The messages are sometimes sentimental and full of longing, but also include everyday questions: “How’s the weather?,” “What did you eat today?“ A father tells his daughter he has sent her flowers and a kiss by way of WhatsApp emojis, while one girl asks her father for “a white dress, as well as grey and pink.” One refugee in Europe tells his wife: “I want to get you out of the Arab world where there is only humiliation. I swear I will bring you here to live the best life... you’ll live with dignity.” “I miss you a lot,” he says. “I miss sitting with you and making you coffee in the morning.” The film also shows selfies sent by those who have managed to reach Europe. The messages are often the first contact between family members after “long periods of time when they don’t have Internet and there’s no word” from those who departed, says Habjouqa. “For most of the mothers and children, the most terrifying part is the... silence” from the minute migrants leave Turkey toward Greece. In 2015, more than a million migrants entered Europe, about half of them Syrians fleeing war, with Germany shouldering most of the burden. Of these, around 850,000 people made the dangerous Aegean sea crossing to Greece from Turkey — a route that also claimed more than 300 lives.   AFP