By Julia Sawicka (Originally published in Zcie Warszawy)
They can’t return to their home countries because of wars and conflicts going on there, and they are afraid of persecutions. In Poland they have found a second home.
They come from a multicultural and colourful continent. Although they come from different countries, speak different languages and being brought up in different cultures, for Poles they are all exiles from Africa. In Warsaw they are represented by the Association of Exiles, where we can also find refugees from other continents. Simon Mol from Cameroon is one of founders of this association.
My Africa
While waiting in an asylum Centre, Simon Mol invested his time in write. He’s a poet and a dramatist. HE also works as a journalist for the English language weekly Warsaw Voice. In 2002 he published his first collection of poems, Africa…My Africa containing poems of nostalgia for Africa and life in a new country; “Coming to Poland was a great change in my life,” Simon relates, “And I really like Polish winter. I like describing it,” the writer adds, “That’s how the book Day of The Dead came about.” In the book Simon writes about how Polish people commemorate the ‘All Saints Day’, or Day of The Dead, from an African perspective. “The Dead and Ghosts in Africa are treated very seriously. It surprised me a lot that the first of November is so remarkable on the streets in Warsaw. Everyone goes to visit their Dead. Candles burn on graves. There are even special buses and bus schedules for that day. Everything looks serious,” notes the writer.
Migrator Theatre
In the long run Simon decided to take to the stage with his plays. Three years ago He founded a theatre group, Migrator Theatre. Most of the actors are immigrants, including amateur and aspiring actors.
Simon’s dramas touch on the problem of people forced to leave their countries. The artists want to initiate dialogue with Poles. They have performed at the National Ethnographic Museum, Culture Centres, pubs, two clubs in Warsaw-Piekarnia and Punkt.
Migrator Theater beside the African actors also boosts of actors from Yugoslavia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Azabaijan, Vietnam, and Poles. The actors want to reach across to Poles; “Thanks to the theatre we remind them about our existence and not only on the annually celebrated Refugees Day,” the Actors say.
Art for officials
“Refugees living in Poland have a lot of problems with getting material help from the government. The biggest obstacle is bureaucratic procedures. Our plays are also about that. That might be the reason why we are often badly regarded by the civil servants,” thinks Simon. Michael who is a Spanish lecturer also plays in the theatre; “Thanks to that I have new experience, and apart from that, the theatre is a certain form of integration, because Polish people come to watch our plays,” he claims. The same opinion is shared by Nada Rusnak, from Sudan; “Out theatre is not only a way of integration and telling others about our problems, we have created our small United Nations Organization,” Nada says.
After rehearsals the actors from different countries talk about their problems. They look for the solutions together, helping each other. Nada came to Poland 15 years ago, to study. When there was an outbreak of a conflict in Sudan she decided to stay in Europe. In Warsaw she met her husband, who is Polish…”Now I feel integrated with the Polish society. My husband tries very hard to make me feel like that. We watched together polish films, like “Miœ” or “Poszukiwana poszukiwany” to make me understand the Polish mentality,” says Nada with smiles.
Polish people are keen on coming to the performances of Migrator Theatre, although there are sometimes weird things that happen: “Two years ago there was a lady who came to Warsaw especially to see an African and touch him,” says Emmanuel Zuu, from Liberia… “It made us laugh; all in all we have the XXIst century now.” Emmanuel has been in the Polish capital for more than 20 years. He came as a student, and became a refugee when the war in Liberia started. He’s an English teacher at a high school in Warsaw and at the refugee center in Siekierki. Although Poland has become his second home, he claims that he will always be considered as an alien here; “My skin is dark, so I would never be considered as “one of us” by Polish people.”
“For me, Poland is simultaneoulsy heaven and hell,” says Simon poetically.
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