The Little Prince

As we sat at the outdoor cafe drinking coffee on the Maxstraße, by she looked away and said "Ich habe viele erlebt," "I've experienced a great deal." Fatima and I were surrounded by German families, children shrieking as they played in the fountain nearby. When she said that, when she looked away, I could tell she wasn't present in the moment, but was remember things, recalling her work with the Red Crescent in Homs or her family's journey from Syria through Turkey to seek asylum in Germany. We had otherwise been speaking lightheartedly of learning German and our favorite foods, yet this moment helped remind me of something I'd pushed to the back of my mind.

Since my arrival, I have worried so much about communication and making connections, about finding people who will help me and who can contribute to the work I'm doing here. This moment with Fatima reminded me of the "why," the reason I've traveled so far for this work. But it also helped me to remember that refugees themselves are perhaps the best equipped to help one one another.  Fatima has indeed experienced a lot. But those experiences, and her skills in learning German, in navigating the systems here, in volunteering in her home country, these are what help to make her such an important asset, both to Germany and to her fellow refugees. While I may have a good education and a lot of resources, it is important to also remember what I lack: experience as a refugee. This is what I must keep in the back of my mind as the project develops-it is crucial to harness the energy and experience of the people I am meeting and assist them in channeling it effectively.

Fatima looked back at me, "Aber, ja, alles ist gut, lhamduallah,"  "But yes, everything is ok, thank God." "lhamduallah," "thank God," I replied. And our conversation shifted back to our troubles in learning German, remember the articles and the accusative and dative tenses. She turned and pulled a small book out of her purse: Der Kleine Prinz, The Little Prince. I smiled, "one of my favorites," I told her. "Me too," she said. I found it very fitting that she was reading this book, authored by a man fleeing war and destruction in France during the Second World War. 

"The little prince sat down on a stone, and raised his eyes toward the sky.
'I wonder,' he said, 'whether the star are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again...Look at my planet. It is right there above us. But how far away it is!'"