Amineh, a 13-year-old Syrian refugee in the United Kingdom, tells about her country of origin through poetry. One of her works was awarded the Betjeman poetry prize.
Syrian doves croon above my head, their call cries in my eyes. I'm trying to design a country that will go with my poetry and not get in the way when I'm thinking, where soldiers don't walk over my face
With these words begins the "Lament for Syria", a poem written by Amineh Abou Kerech, a 13-year-old Syrian refugee living in the United Kingdom. At the end of September, her poem won the Betjeman Poetry Prize 2017 for children 10-13 years old. Her story, told to the British daily The Guardian, is made up of violence and fleeing but also hope, art, and future.
Poetry to tell the story of Syria
"Lament for Syria" was written half in English and half in Arabic. "I take words from anywhere," Amineh told The Guardian."I take them from songs and films, from what I see on the computer or the television. And I put them all together," she said. She started writing poetry during the four years she spent in Egypt, but since the time she moved to England last summer, she has been working even more on her verses. Amineh was eight years old when she left Syria. Her family lived in Darayya, a suburb of Damascus.
Once fighting broke out, Amineh's family - her parents and two brothers - fled, traveling for one year within the country and then to Egypt. "In Syria, we were scared all the time," she said. Despite the difficulties, in Egypt, she felt safe and began to write. "When I remember my Syria I feel so sad and I cry and start writing about her," she said.
Hope in a poem
"Oh Syria, my love, I hear your moaning in the cries of the doves. I hear your screaming cry," the poem continues. After four years in Egypt, her family managed to reach the United Kingdom, where they live as refugees in Oxford. Here, Amineh started school, and in particular, a course with the Iraqi poet Adnan Al-Sayegh, where she met the Scottish author Kate Clanchy, who saw her talent. When the winner of the poetry prize was announced, Amineh was overcome with emotion as she received congratulations from all. "It's a surprise for me, like a dream," her father said at the time. "I used to write simple things, but after the war, after the hard time that we had, we didn't think that we needed to write anything. We survived".Today, Amineh's future is full of hope. "I feel so happy here because I have a future and things won't be scary anymore," she tells me. "Everything will be good, and we will always be in peace," she said.