Stories have power. Stories are sacred. As a storyteller, I often feel the weight of stories that are shared with me. Part of my job is to listen to the stories of others — a task that I don't take lightly.
As I visited the islands and met refugees, I heard story after story. I listened to the stories of people from Aleppo, Idlib, Mosul, Raqqa, Kabul — cities that I only heard about in the news.
I now carry their stories with me. While I'm not yet sharing their stories, for now please take a look at their beautiful faces. I'm still processing through these stories and discovering how to share them yet keep them sacred. At any rate, It is a privilege to carry them.
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In the spring of 2015, I living in Cambodia. As I often did, I was listening to the Relevant Podcast on a Saturday afternoon while I cleaned my apartment. In that week's episode, Cameron Strang shared about his experience in Lebanon, meeting Syrian refugees. As I listened to his stories, I knew that was the work I was supposed to be doing.
It didn't really make sense — I was living in Southeast Asia, I didn't have a background in the Middle East. But fast forward a few months, through earthquakes and new countries, and I was doing that work. I never could have guessed that's how it would work. Stories beget stories.
