Salat Ali came to the United States from a refugee camp when he was 11 years old. Next month, he’s returning to the camp to reunite with his mother for the first time since he left 13 years ago.

“I don’t even know how I feel, I don’t know what that reaction is going to be like,” Ali said. “But I know that if I see my mom cry, I’m going to cry too.”

The reunion will be filmed as part of a documentary, which the production team is still raising funds for. A fundraiser is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. at With Love Restaurant on North Salina Street. The dinner is cash-only, pay-what-you-will and will feature Somali and Ethiopian food.

Adam Sudmann, program manager at With Love Restaurant, said he hopes the event will be like a party — with Somali music, paper plates and crowded spaces. He said he hopes to create a space where people from all walks of life can come together for a meal and support a common goal.

Laura Angle | Digital Design Editor

“Most folks in Syracuse don’t understand what it means to be a refugee, but you understand what it means to miss someone … to lose someone,” Sudmann said.

Ali’s journey will be documented by Ellen Blalock, a photojournalist and former multimedia journalist at The Syracuse Post-Standard. The production team also includes Tim Brachocki, co-founder of Syracuse Alternative Media Network, and Linda Herbert, an award-winning independent producer. Both Brachocki and Herbert teach in the Electronic Media Communications Department at Onondaga Community College.

Herbert and Brachocki have worked all summer to seek partnerships with other organizations who wish to support Ali’s project.

“Everybody wants to work together to just really put a face and a voice to the refugee experience,” Herbert said. She’s seen an outpouring of support for the project — citing the travel ban as a catalyst for activism in the Syracuse community.

Ali and the production team don’t want this documentary to generalize the refugee experience, but rather use Ali’s experience as a “microcosm” for a “spectrum of experiences,” Brachocki said. By sharing his personal story, Ali aims to humanize commonly perceived refugee narratives.

Ali’s parents met in Dagahaley, a refugee camp in Kenya, after they both fled the Somali Civil War. Two years later, Ali was born in the camp.

His parents divorced when he was six years old, which lead to the United Nations recognizing his parents as two separate families. Ali’s father raised him and his brother, earning only 100 to 200 shillings a day as a laborer — the equivalent of $1 to $2.

“As the years go by, I start to see the scars on my dad … there was a point where my dad couldn’t even mentally hold onto his situation anymore,” Ali remembers. “And if anything, my dad has the strongest resilience in the world.

As the older sibling, Ali was responsible for taking care of his younger brother while his father worked. He was given strict rules about where he wasn’t allowed to go in the camp, but Ali rarely listened. His adventurous nature lead him into some situations that “weren’t pretty.”

Laura Angle | Digital Design Editor

Ali’s father’s side was chosen to come to the U.S. when he was 11 years old — his mother stayed in the camp.

“It was a huge hope when my dad saw our name on this board. We couldn’t read at the time, actually, and someone else told him,” Ali said. “The whole village knows everybody, and there’s one guy that could read and said that his name was on there.”

His father was so eager that he would arrive two hours early for every meeting leading up to the departure. When the day finally came, the family got on a bus to Nairobi with one suitcase. The three of them stayed in Nairobi for a week before getting on a plane.

“My dad was very, very protective. He didn’t know what he was getting himself into,” Ali said. “But he knew that staying in that camp was not something he wanted for the rest of his life.”

At each stop, there were fewer and fewer people on the plane who spoke Ali’s language. At the Syracuse Hancock International Airport, Ali’s father didn’t know what to do when they saw their suitcase circling around and around on the baggage claim belt.

They heard a Somali word behind them. Ali’s father was nearly in tears because there was finally someone who spoke their language. They were then escorted to their apartment in Syracuse.

Ali was surprised to learn that the visions of America he had heard in the camp were only fantasies. He had been told that all of the houses were made of glass and that he’d never see a tree again. Ali remembers walking outside his apartment and watching the cars go up the hill — watching to see if any could actually fly.

He started fifth grade without knowing a single word of English. But that didn’t stop him from making friends with everyone he met.

“I was so excited. I’ve never been that excited in my life,” Ali said. “I had a backpack on, I was saying I’m going to be friends with black, green — I don’t care who you are, I’m going to be friends with you.”

Salat Ali’s journey to Kenya will be documented by a professional production team. He came up with the idea of creating a documentary while taking an independent study course during college. Hieu Nguyen | Asst. Photo Editor

But school was difficult. A friend helped him translate, but the only subject he could somewhat understand was mathematics. The food didn’t taste right, either. The fruit wasn’t ripe enough, the water tasted funny and everything felt “rushed.” His groceries at home were from neighborhood corner stores — not straight from the tree like back home.

The first time Ali felt very comfortable in his new home was when he finally learned to read in eighth grade. He said his teacher was the most kind and patient person he’s ever met.

When Ali decided he wanted to continue his education after high school, he didn’t know where to begin. He found guidance from On Point for College, who helped Ali tour colleges, look for scholarships and buy dorm supplies. Ali enrolled at Cazenovia College, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

The idea to create a documentary came to Ali during his last semester of college while taking an independent study course. When the project idea reached Herbert months later, she was instantly on board.

Ali is scheduled to leave for Kenya on Oct. 20. In addition to being accompanied by Blalock, Ali will film his own video diary on a phone.

“My reason for doing this is that I feel lucky, I feel privileged and I feel like I have a platform,” Ali said. “I guess I have the strongest voice as a refugee to say something.”

Cover photo by Hieu Nguyen

Published on September 10, 2018 at 11:14 pm

Contact Haley: hrober03@syr.edu