Iceland review - 2016, Page 19

16 ICELAND REVIEW ICELAND REVIEW 17
A theater project gives refugees a voice.
There have been so many inter-
views with experts and politi-
cians talking about all the solu-
tions they’re trying to come up with.
We wanted to give refugees themselves
a voice, to create a space where they can
be heard,” says Director of Reykjavík
City Theater Kristín Eysteinsdóttir
about the event ‘Opnum Okkur!’ (which
roughly translates to ‘Let’s Open Up!’)
held in early December. As part of the
event, organized in collaboration with
the Icelandic Red Cross, four refugees
took to the stage to tell their stories.
“Some people think that refugees
come here for fun. I want to tell my
story and explain that for me there
was no other choice, I want them to
know why I am here. I had no future
in Iran. Leaving was a last resort, it was
my last chance,” says 22-year-old Zahra
Mesbah from Afghanistan. Her family
fled Afghanistan for Iran after her father,
who was a politician, was assassinated.
However, conditions were difficult for
DIFFERENT VOICES
Afghans in Iran. In 2012, Zahra and her
family were invited to Iceland as part
of the UNHCR refugee resettlement
program.
The recent theater event was organized
in the format of conversations between
the individuals and actors Bergur Þór
Ingólfsson and Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir.
“We want to look beyond the headlines
and sit down and have a normal conver-
sation,” Bergur explained at the opening
of the event. “Different voices should be
heard in the theater,” Halldóra added.
Another of those voices was that of
31-year-old Mustafa Abubakr from Iraqi
Kurdistan. He was granted protection
in Iceland in 2015 after traveling to the
country and applying for asylum here.
He had similar reasons for taking part in
the theater project. “Even if I live here
in Iceland until I’m 100 years old, I will
always be a refugee. I really want people
to understand me and my story better,
that it was very difficult to leave my
country and come here. I think telling
my story will make things a bit easier,”
he says.
Syrian couple Wael Aliyadah and
Feryal Aldahagh and their two daugh-
ters, who are currently appealing the
authorities’ decision to send them back
to Greece, also took part in the project.
Sharing their stories was an emotional
experience, with participants, actors and
the audience struggling at times to fight
back tears. “They’re being very brave to
get up on the stage of Iceland’s biggest
theater and share their stories with us,”
Kristín commented before the show.
Although the theater usually plans its
schedule far in advance, making it some-
times difficult to take up current and
evolving issues, Kristín explained that the
refugee issue was one that the theater felt
it had a responsibility to cover. “We’re
always looking for ways in the theater to
react to what is going on in society. The
theater should be a domain where society
is able to reflect on itself.” *
BY ZOË ROBERT. PHOTO BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.
THEATER