I come from a country where jasmine grows well.
In fact,
who knows the jasmine in the room?
Raise your hand, please.
Sandrine May: “Rita, that’s jasmine. “
RD: No, no, it’s not my jasmine, that.
When I think of jasmine,
I remember a little white flower with six petals
and a so special perfume.
In this perfume,
there are all my memories of Damascus and Syria.
She is very small, this flower,
but for the Syrians, she represents a lot in their lives.
Jasmine is in the hands of all lovers.
Even our morning coffee
is always accompanied by a little jasmine.
It scents the coffee and it’s like a sign of a good day.
That, at our place, is jasmine:
it’s people, life, the streets.
So, I believe
that his roots and his perfume must remain there, in his land.
When I was torn from my land, I left the jasmine in its soil.
Since 2011, I have learned to live with the wind.
A wind that blushes the sky and the earth.
1,900 days, where to live is to live by chance.
You do not know if you will live, or you will die.
When we had to leave,
my father told me, my little sister and my brother:
“You can take two important things for yourself. “
Which ones do you take? “
So, I took little words from my friends and some pictures.
When I left Syria in 2016, I left everything and lost everything.
I lost my friends, the places I love, my habits.
All this price to pay to find the security.
And besides, during the trip, we were dumb,
we could not speak.
I had not yet accepted that my life was changing.
On the plane, I saw only the immensity of the sky,
it was so abstract.
I knew the destination, but it was not enough.
What will be tomorrow, life for me?
So, now, I’m going to tell you how I started this new life.
The first time, the first step where we put our feet,
it was Frankfurt airport.
The air police did not understand anything.
We were in good standing, we had real visas.
We were all separated, even my little sister.
They sought [to know]
where we were going, how and thanks to whom,
and they also sought [to know] if we all said the same thing.
That was my first impression of Europe.
That was it, the welcome!
It was not normal.
When we landed in Toulouse,
it was calm, there were no soldiers, no militia.
People were going fast, but there was no panic.
That was security.
But I knew it already, I have nothing here.
What was life going to be like?
The only memory I have of our arrival in Toulouse,
it’s the sound of our luggage rolling on the ground
and it was really bad weather.
So, after that, we went to the house waiting for us.
We had prepared bread.
But, my bread, it’s flat, it’s round,
we do not put it next to the plate, we use it as a spoon,
but the wand, we did not know what to do with it.
It became hard, right away.
My mother, she cried, because she did what she could.
And me, my brother and my little sister, we did not eat, for two days,
because nothing looked like anything for us.
Nothing was normal.
So, on March 15, 2016, I planted my roots next to Toulouse.
I spent five months before going to school.
I worked a lot my French.
In fact, I only did that.
I did not know where to meet people my age.
It was really difficult, it was not a normal life.
And then, I was very lucky, I was accepted at INSA Toulouse,
one of the best engineering schools in France.
At the end of the war, I want to return to my land.
I want to help rebuild my Syria.
So, this school is amazing, for me.
First, I did the bus ride,
then, I could have a room in a university residence.
It was a chance, but a new challenge.
Living between four walls, all alone,
and on those walls, the jasmine did not cling.
You know, I did what I could to live in my new garden,
but the others did not care about me.
Nobody asks:
Where I come from ?
How did I live before?
Why am I here ?
It’s difficult to arrive in a new garden,
where the other trees are not used to my jasmine.
(Applause)
That is true,
studies took me a lot more time
than the other students,
but I want to live, too.
Do you see me?
Yes, then, I am not transparent.
Yet, at school, you do not even notice me.
I assure you, I do what I can.
Talk to others at the end of class, offer some coffee.
It’s normal, that’s not difficult.
I know that in my country, the welcome from abroad is normal,
but still,
the only answer I have:
“We’ll see, another time. “
You imagine, every day, going to class,
you sit in the middle of the others
and nothing happens.
I can talk with my friends from Syria, but not with my neighbors in an amphitheater.
In November 2016, it became too hard,
I was discouraged, I wanted to go home.
And I heard my parents say to themselves:
“We did all that, for that? “
I was sad.
After, one day,
I know and understand
that others and the situation would not change.
And that the only solution was that I change my eyes on all that.
And I started again.
At the moment, when I walk in the streets of Toulouse,
I recognize the smell of jasmine.
I feel that it is not mine, but I hang on it anyway.
I’m 20 years old, I dream to live the life of a girl,
like all the other students.
Do you know what I like?
I like fitness, I like drawing, I like to laugh with my girlfriends.
I want to sing, I want to dance like I did in Syria.
(Music: “Children of all countries” by Enrico Macias)
♪ Children of any country, stretch your bruised hands ♪
♪ Sow love and then give life ♪
♪ Children of all countries and all colors ♪
♪ You have in the heart our happiness ♪
♪ It’s in your hands that tomorrow our land ♪
♪ Will be entrusted to get out of the night ♪
♪ And our hope to see the light again ♪
♪ Is in your eyes awakening to life ♪
♪ Dry your tears, throw your weapons ♪
♪ Make the world a paradise ♪
♪ Children of all countries, stretch your bruised hands ♪
♪ Sow love and then give life ♪
”
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