"I feel powerless against this violence. I feel it crawling in our veins. I don’t want to become a part of this. I feel shame, when I see anger growing between people who suffer the same pain and shame when I feel anger rising inside me."
Parwana is a 17 year old author, poet, teacher and activist from Afghanistan who is living in Greece since September 2019. She uses the power of art and poetry to convey her truth and to share her story of living in Greece. On noticing the inhumane conditions in Moria, she decided to raise awareness about it through poetry with the series of “Letters to the world from Moria” which is published under the name of “My pen won’t break. Parwana wrote these letters at night, with a small torchlight to her aid, in her eight-person family tent, in the olive grove.
Below you can read Parwana’s latest poem:
Don’t look at me like that
Don’t look at me like that!
I am not sad! I am not mad!
I am not bad! I am just tired!!
I need some more days to rest
Some more nights to sleep
Some more freedom to dream
.
I don’t want to sleep late
Be the owl of midnight
I don’t want to collapse on the table
Upon my books, without a blanket
One hand open under my cheek
The other closed tight around my pen
Writing even without seeing
Writing, in vain, our truth
.
I am very young
But my soul is very old
Don’t look at me like that
I am not sad! I am not mad!
I am not bad! I am just tired
As an activist, she started the Youth Refugees Movement engaging with the youth in Ritsona camp in Greece to raise their voices in demanding humane conditions for refugees, for example to build schools and promote education. She believes one of the greatest struggles for refugees is their access to education. She organised a school within the camp and recently, a donation was made through crowdfunding efforts for building a school where Parwana can continue to empower other refugees through education.