Making Home Away

So I sat them down and told them: the five of us are here, me, you and your father, wherever the five of us are, that place should be your heaven.
Discover their stories
The British Academy
UKRI
University of Reading

Lama

Current 'Home' Jordan
.
Unspecified location, Syria
Tags
CampFoodDifficulty

Lama responds to the question of what she finds most different about camp life in comparison to her home in Syria:

"The water is not the same... the bread is not the same, to be honest, you have good bread but may God help you with your water! Go taste our water and see for yourselves! In Syria you drink right out of the tap and the hose but here… God help you with your water."

Dry desert conditions in Al Azraq refugee camp, 2019. Image by Yasmine Shamma

The link between food, authentic tastes, memory and culture is well established, with bread frequently cited as the foundation of this phenomenon for many Syrian refugees. 

YASMINE SHAMMA

This extract is from an interview conducted by YASMINE SHAMMA during 2019 as part of the British Academy funded ‘Lost and Found: A Digital Archive of Migration, Displacement and Resettlement’  project’s Making Home Away archive.

Suha

Current 'Home'
Jordan

Khawla

Current 'Home'
Jordan