“Stand on the brink of your dream and fight. I had a dream to find a safe place and went through many difficult decisions until I made it.”

‘The Stories Behind the Faces’ event this Saturday in Glasgow will be a chance to hear stories of five Yemeni people and the challenges they overcame to seek refuge in Scotland.

The Yemeni Scottish Foundation (YSF) are hosting an event that highlights the stories of Yemeni people in Scotland called ‘The Stories Behind the Faces’.

Five different narratives and stories will be told by the people who experienced them and will explore their life, journey and experiences of living in Scotland.

The event is part of Scotland’s ‘Year of the Stories’, a year-long celebration of Scotland through its storytelling tradition. The event will be held on Saturday 26th March, at the C7 Conference Centre.

Speaking about the event, Nabiha Albanna, secretary of YSF said:

“Stories are a powerful thing. In essence they are the single thing that made humans thrive and prosper on planet earth. In them there is wisdom, inspiration, connection and lessons to be learnt. This event is the first of its kind that brings to light the stories of seven amazing Yemeni individuals, In these stories you will gain the opportunity to have a window into their lives, and see from their perspective of who they are and how Scotland is their home”

Read below the stories from this event and head along on Saturday to meet their tellers and experience some live Yemeni music. Ticket details below.

Saber Bamatraf and Shatha Altowai

Saber and Shatha got married in 2014, before the ongoing Yemeni Civil War. Little did they know that their future would not go as planned. They both graduated with a bachelors in IT. However, they both had hidden talents. Saber is a pianist and composes his own classical music and Shatha is an abstract artist.

In late 2015, their neighbour’s house was targeted with an airstrike which left devastating damages on the surrounding houses including Saber and Shatha’s. They both were then displaced and moved between houses for almost two years.

After repairs were done to their house, they were featured in a 2018 documentary as part of a film festival. Saber and Shatha were cyber-bullied and had death threats just because of the film’s poster. This incident affected their art activism in the public sphere and they began seeking a safe place that would allow them to resume their art practice away from people’s judgements and harassments.

Then they were both granted a fellowship at The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities in Edinburgh via the Artist Protection Fund. They both moved to Edinburgh in November 2020. As part of the fellowship, Saber and Shatha created their own project. Shatha made a series of paintings depicting Yemeni families and their struggles in Yemen; she called the exhibition the White Canvas. She also won The John Byrne Award on one of her paintings with the caption 'What Is More Painful? Hunger or Fear?'.

Saber released his second album ‘Embrace from Edinburgh’ 2021 drawing from the feelings and inspirations he has experienced since arriving in Edinburgh. Saber’s music ‘Mirrored Autumn’ was selected as a theme tune on a series of podcasts by IASH at University of Edinburgh.

They quote:

“Only the free who seek freedom”

Essam and Mohammed

Aloqabi Essam and Mohammed are brothers who were born and raised in Sanaa. They both have a passion for breakdancing and were part of one of the first dance-crews in Yemen. Back there, breakdancing was new and was considered to be a Western style of dance.

In 2013, they participated in Arabs Got Talent in Lebanon. Mohammed was 17 years old while Essam was only 13 . When they returned to Yemen after the show, Essam was beaten-up by a group of people who opposed the idea of breakdance and they called him an infidel. The two brothers continued receiving threats and being called names.

Mohammed graduated high school in 2014, a few months before the current war started. The brothers stopped publicly performing to avoid getting attention, receiving more threats, or getting harmed. In late 2017, Essam was kidnapped and his family did not know anything about him for three days. They finally found out that he was detained at a police station simply because of what he was wearing, which, in the detainee’s logic, was westernised and feminine skinny jeans. Essam was detained there for a month where he was subject to physical and psychological assault. After bribing the officials to release Essam, the brothers only had one choice, which was to leave the county.

The journey began by crossing 3-4 countries to arrive in Spain. They then received the devastating news that their father was killed on the frontline. Once in Spain, and after staying there for a while, Mohammed decided to leave Spain as he was discriminated against. The brother then went their separate ways.

Mohammed arrived in the UK in January 2020, while Essam stayed in Spain then moved to Belgium in the hope of being reunited with Mohammed. Essam managed to enter the UK in October 2021, after 18 months apart. Mohammed received his refugee status while Essam is still awaiting a decision. They are finally settling in Scotland and feeling safe.

Mohammed said

“When people read my story, I don’t want them to feel bad about it, I want them to only recognise the experiences from it and know that at the end everything works out to what is best for you”

Firdous

Firdous is a mother of 5 children, 4 boys and 1 girl. Her family is from Hadhramout, a region of East Yemen, but her parents were immigrants to Saudi Arabia. She was born and raised in Jeddah, a city in Saudi Arabia.

As a child, she loved joking and being active. She has only 1 brother. She lived her whole life in Saudi Arabia. As her children grew, they faced more difficulties enrolling in universities in Saudi Arabia as they are considered to be foreigners and foreigners in Saudi Arabia barely have any rights. After the war on Yemen in 2015, the Saudi government started to impose new rules to have Saudi’s get priority in getting jobs etc. They also imposed new fees on all immigrants living there regardless if they were born there and consider Saudi Arabia as the only home they know.

Firdous and her husband decided to leave Saudi Arabia, leaving behind everything and everyone they know. As she was the only daughter, she took her elder mother to take care of her. They arrived in the UK in December 2019. They are still waiting for their asylum decision.

Firdous was scared to move to an entirely different and new country. But she integrated well especially considering that she came only a few months before Covid-19 and restrictions. She always loved handcrafts and upcycling old products.

She joined ESOL classes and other groups to widen her contacts and meet new people. She went back to her crafts and started doing paper quilting art, which was exhibited in the Science Centre in Glasgow. She is now studying Fashion and Textile design in Glasgow City college, trying to make up for the time missed and looking forward to her future and dreams.

Firdous said:

"I have great faith in my creator and will not forsake us.”

Mohammed Alosimi

Mohammed is from Mahwit and was raised in Alhudaidah, a Yemeni coastal city. He has a bachelor degree in accounting. After getting married, Mohammed decided to go to Saudi Arabia hoping to establish a better life and future for him and his family. It was difficult to get a job that pays well in Yemen. He moved to Saudi Arabia in 2003 and had 5 children.

In 2018, after the Saudi government imposed extortionate new residential fees on foreigners, Mohammed decided to find a better life somewhere else. He was unable to go back to Yemen due to the current war, therefore, he only had the choice to seek another country.

Mohammed decided to go to Turkey. His life was stable there and opened his own juice bar and dessert shop. Unfortunately, the Turkish government refused to process Mohammed’s family reunion. He then had to leave his life and business he created in Turkey and go to Europe.

He arrived in Greece in a boat, but he saw that Greece had no proper system for refugees. He then decided to go further deep into Europe. After 3 months of him trying to cross borders failed, he then decided to cross the borders via the Danube River in Romania. There were 16 in the boat, as they were crossing, the boat sank and 8 died in that incident. Mohammed met his friend Mahran during this crossing.

Mohammed and Mahran arrived in the UK in August 2020. He is now finally settled down and his family reunion application is in process. He is hoping he will see his family very soon after being separated for 4 years.

Mohammed said:

“Stand on the brink of your dream and fight. I had a dream to find a safe place and went through many difficult decisions until I made it.”

Saleem

Saleem lived his life in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, but he is originally from a town called Albayda’. Saleem had a normal life. He was forced to flee Yemen not just due to the current war, but because of a family and tribal incident that was threatening to his life.

In 2017, he fled to Sudan with only $50 in his pocket, he spent the entire day looking for a job and place to stay, he then found a restaurant that he worked at for 3 months, 12 hours per day without getting paid, they provided food and a place to stay. The owner finally agreed to pay Saleem for his work and life was going well for him. But the same issue in Yemen followed him to Sudan, so Saleem decided to flee to a 3rd country.

He sought help and applied to 14 different embassies but he only received rejections. Fearing for his life, he then decided to take the difficult route to find a safe place. He was told that the best way was to go to Iran and from there find an entry to Turkey. He took all his savings and went to Iran. The journey from Iran to Turkey was horrendous and several times thought he was going to die or get killed. After finally arriving in Turkey, Saleem took the trip into Europe and finally arrived in the UK in May 2019. He is now investing all his time in reading and exercising, he aims to be an influencer and help others by making a positive impact.

Saleem said:

“In difficult situations I face, I always tell myself this time will pass. Nothing lasts forever, whether it is a happy or difficult time. In happy situations we need to grasp and enjoy every moment of them and in difficult ones we need to endure it with all the strength that we have."