Helping others Tell Their Story

Along with millions of others in 2015, I watched as unbearable human waves marched across the Balkan refugee route. Along with millions of others, I decided I had to help. In May 2016, the refugees reached my neighborhood in Germany, and the group of translators I helped organize went to work. That beginning took me on a journey with our new dwellers that continues today. One project, to help refugees find a voice, has borne fruit. Duaa Sheikh Qatana was one of the first refugees to arrive and, at 16, one of the most gifted linguistically. My translator, Dr. Dorothee Leidig, and I helped Duaa shape her story, and editor Artur Nickel selected her story for inclusion in the anthology pictured here. Congratulations, Duaa, and thank you for your inspiration.

"Das Herz hat das Recht, mehr als der Verstand, zu vergessen" ["The Heart, More Than the Intellect, Has the Right to Forget"] von Duaa SHEIKH QATANA in: Von Fluchten und Wiederfluchten, Artur Nickel (Hrsg.). Geest-Verlag, Vechta-Langförden 2017. 

ISBN 978-3-86685-631-8