Invisible Homes Without Here and There Where never will come near and go away from anything

72 Pages·2013·4.32 MB·English

Rojia Forouhar Abadeh
2013
I n v i s i b l e H o m e s
Without Here and
there W here never
w i l l c o m e n e a r
and go away from
a ny t h i n g , a l l t h e
steps of the earth

IwilltellyouwhatIwilldoandwhatIwillnotdo.Iwillnotservethatin
whichInolongerbelieve,whetheritcallsitselfmyhome,myfatherland,
ormychurch:andIwilltrytoexpressmyselfinsomemodeoflifeorartas
freelyasIcanandaswhollyasIcan,usingformydefensetheonlyarmsI
allowmyselftouse-­‐-­‐silence,exile,andcunning.
__JamesJoyce

C o n t e n t s:
0
Prelude
_
Field Hospital 1
……………………………………………….............……………………………..………
1
_
Invisible 5
……………………………………………………………………..……………………………………...
2
_
Homes 17
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3
_
Without Here and There 5
………………………………………………………………...…
4
Postlude
_
Where never will come near and go away from
anything, all the steps of the earth 36
…………………………………………

Photo from Boeing 737 above Tehran
0
Prelude_ Field Hospital
A long never-­‐ending night road slips beneath us and disappears under
thecar.ThegroundofTehranisescapingmygraspandaswegetcloser
totheairportthereislessandlessofitleft.
-­‐ ‘I must hold the record of most trips to Imam Khomeini airport
without actually having left Iran. Well, apart from the airport Taxi
driversthatis,butthey’redoingtheirjob,it’sdifferent’
ThiswasAmirhossein’swayoflighteningtheweighing gloom thathad
occupiedthecar.Welaughedandthenimmediatelyrememberedthose
whohadgonedownthisroadandthosewhowillsoonmakethistrip.
Manyarestrappedtocontainers.Theyhaveswumthecolddarkwaters
ofthe English Channelto sneak into ferries and climb trucks disguised
inreflectivealuminumfoil.Whiledrinkingcheapliquortowarmupand
most possibly braven up before their final swim, they go over their
rehearsals and check once again the route. Laid out in front of them
drawn in pen and pencilisa map oftheCalaisferry terminalthatthey
haveconfiguredthroughcarefuldailyinspections.Itisexciting,asifan
actionfilmisabouttounfold.Butoncetheystartswimmingthroughthe
chilledwetnightintheirlifejacketsitisclumsy,dangerous,frightening,
almostdoomed.Whethertheymakeittotheothersideornottheywill
stillbeoneofthenon-­‐existentlistoftheunregisteredmanywhoescape
statisticsand documentation;theuncounted.They endureso much for
the PromisedLand1. Perhaps my plight wanes in the heavy shadows of
theirexile.
Whateverthereasonsand motivesmightbe,whatevertheirimpacton
what is abandoned and left behind, regardless of the place the
immigrant, the refugee, the expatriate comes into, ‘a man is running
fromtheworsetowardsthebetter.Thetruthofthematteristhatfrom
1