Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 199

(6/11) “I was fourteen when I arrived in Syria. Those were the...

(6/11) “I was fourteen when I arrived in Syria. Those were the best two years of my life. The first day we arrived, I made my father take me to school so I could register. I was doing so well in school. I got very good grades. I got so many awards and my teachers kept telling me that I had a very bright future. They told me: ‘One day Aya, you will be the voice of refugees.’ On the weekend I was volunteering to help other refugees. I organized an entire chorus of refugees. Things were going so well. My father was working as a driver. We were very comfortable. Then war came to Syria. It began for me as a bomb threat at our school. Then people began killing each other in the street. I was studying one afternoon, and I looked out the window, and a man smashed another man’s head with a stone. Right in front of me. Our landlord told us: ‘I am leaving the country. Everyone must go.’ So again we became refugees. We put everything we had into six bags, and we left.”

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As of now, 1.5% of the HONY community has signed the petition supporting Aya’s appeal for American resettlement. Please consider adding your voice:

http://www.change.org/friendsofaya

(5/11) “Our house in Baghdad was located near a military...

(5/11) “Our house in Baghdad was located near a military compound, and the militia officers wanted it for themselves. They sent three men to our house to order us to leave. When my father refused, they mailed us an envelope with bullets inside. My father was working as a library security guard during this time. The militia went to the library and murdered my father’s coworker—thinking it was him. My father became very scared when he heard this. He told us we had to pack all our clothes into bags and leave Iraq immediately. It was the middle of the night. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to leave my bedroom or my school or my friends. I wasn’t even allowed to say goodbye to anyone. Nobody knew we were leaving. When the taxi arrived, I held onto the doorframe and screamed that I wasn’t going. My father pulled me away and told me that we were going to live in a better place. That night we drove to Syria.”

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As of now, 1% of the HONY community has signed the petition supporting Aya’s appeal for American resettlement. Please consider adding your voice:

http://www.change.org/friendsofaya

We’re currently in the middle of a series about a young Iraqi...

We’re currently in the middle of a series about a young Iraqi refugee named Aya. As many of you know, Aya’s story does not yet have a happy ending. After years of hardship, her application for resettlement in the United States was rejected. She has just begun an appeal process. As we learn the rest of the story, if you feel inclined to lend your voice in support of her appeal, I have created a petition for that purpose. It’s not a petition, actually. We’re not asking that any action be taken. It’s an invitation. It’s an invitation for President Obama to join us in saying: ‘Aya is important to us. We do not believe she is a threat. And we think she deserves to be here.’ When I read the language of our invitation to Aya last night on Skype, she began sobbing. She has been carrying her story alone for years, and she had almost given up hope. And now someone cares. Aya is sleeping now. But when she wakes up tomorrow, I hope she sees just how many of us care.

Please, consider becoming A Friend Of Aya:

http://www.change.org/friendsofaya

(4/11) “These things are very hard for me to remember, but I...

(4/11) “These things are very hard for me to remember, but I try not to cry because I want to be strong for my mother. It was hardest for her because she had children. During the war she had to worry about herself, but she also had to worry about us. It made her very ill. Her blood pressure is very high now. Her hand shakes. She has bladder problems. But she is my hero because she always protected us. One time when my father wasn’t home, a strange man entered our house. But my mother pretended to be a man and screamed downstairs in a very deep voice. And she saved us.”

(Gaziantep, Turkey)

(3/11) “After Miriam died, I began to have silly thoughts. I...

(3/11) “After Miriam died, I began to have silly thoughts. I thought that I was supposed to be President of the World. It sounds funny now but I was just ten years old. I thought that if I was really clever in school and got all the best marks, I would become a leader and I could stop the war. I could just tell everyone to love each other and they would listen to me. I taught myself English during this time. I would listen to American songs and translate every word. I’d watch Hollywood movies. I’d practice talking to myself in front of the mirror every night. I’d even give gum to American soldiers so I could have conversations with them. I thought maybe if I just concentrated on my studies, I could avoid the war. It worked for two years. But one day I was driving with my father and a car bomb exploded ahead of us. I got out of the car because I thought that maybe I could save the people but there were hands and heads in the street. Everyone was dead. It was like a horror movie. It was like Titanic but it was really happening and it was in the street.”

(2/11) “This is a photo of me right before the war came. Maybe...

(2/11) “This is a photo of me right before the war came. Maybe my parents knew the war was coming, but they didn’t tell me. I wouldn’t have understood. I didn’t even know the meaning of war. Bombs started falling all around us. We lived very near one of Saddam’s castles. My mother told us: ‘It will be very loud, but nothing bad will happen to us. We will all be here together.’ Many houses in our neighborhood were destroyed, but I’d close my ears and sing songs whenever the bombs came close. In the cartoon shows, the good always wins, so I thought that we were good and nothing would happen to us. Then one day I heard a big sound and I saw that my best friend Miriam’s house had been destroyed. We walked to school together every day. I went to see if she was OK and I saw Miriam on the ground. She didn’t have any legs and she was screaming and I can still hear that sound now. They pulled me away but I saw everything. I don’t think it was good for a child to see this.”

(Gaziantep, Turkey)

(1/11) “When I was a baby I came very close to dying. I’m not...

(1/11) “When I was a baby I came very close to dying. I’m not sure how to say the name of the disease in English, but all the water in my body started to dry. I couldn’t gain weight and I became very weak. This was during Saddam’s time, and the hospital staff told my mother that in two days they would euthanize me. But my mother refused to accept this. She called everywhere and found a clinic in Jordan that said they could give me treatment. There was an American doctor there who saved my life. We stayed in Jordan until I was seven, and then we moved back to Baghdad. One day I was playing in our garden and I heard very loud noises and the sky was really red and everyone was screaming. It’s very hard to describe. It was like there was blood in the sky.”

(Gaziantep, Turkey)

Yesterday I got an email from Edward Norton, asking if he could...

Yesterday I got an email from Edward Norton, asking if he could host a fundraiser for the scientist in Tuesday’s story. I said: ‘Of course Edward Norton. Also, you were awesome in Birdman. Also, let’s hang out.’

I’ve rarely been shaken by a story more than the scientist’s. His life had been so tragic, but throughout the entire interview, he kept returning to his desire to help mankind. He didn’t want to die before making a contribution to humanity, and he felt that he was running out of time. While listening to him, I kept imagining how difficult it would be for him to focus on any sort of research while starting a new life in America. Despite his lofty accomplishments, he might have to take whatever job (or two) he could get just to keep up with rent. Hopefully this fundraiser will change that, insuring that he can focus his amazing mind on his dream of changing the world.

Consider Donating Here: https://cdn.crowdrise.com/the-scientist

I am going to do one last book signing this year at the main...

I am going to do one last book signing this year at the main branch of the New York Public Library on Tuesday, December 15th. My friend Helene helps manage the bookshop, and told me that if she sells 300 HONY Stories books by Christmas, she is going to reward herself with a vacation to India. I told her that I’d do a signing if she overcame her fear of photography and posed for the announcement post, to which she replied: ‘Oh God.’ I also told her that she was required to wear a Christmas sweater at the event, to which she replied: ‘I’m Jewish.’ So if you’d like to meet Helene, who will be wearing a sweater vaguely suggestive of the holiday season, come to the main library between 3 pm and 7pm on December 15th. I will also be there signing books. All proceeds go directly to benefit the library.

(4/4) “We even tried to stay in our home after my father was...

(4/4) “We even tried to stay in our home after my father was arrested. I wanted to go right away, but my father was too afraid because he thought we’d be stopped at a checkpoint and he’d be taken again. But two months later, my son was hit by a motorcycle outside of our house. His face was burned and bruised and his leg was broken. There were no more ambulances in our town, so I had to bring him to the hospital myself. When I got there, it was empty. There were no doctors left. I had to wrap his leg myself with the help of an anesthesiologist, but I messed it up. I knew then that we had to leave. When we get to America, the leg will need to be broken again.”

(Amman, Jordan)