Childhood stories are often associated with warm and innocent memories, but the only memories that Najem Wali recalled from his youth in Basra, Iraq were tainted by the destruction caused by war.
Wali was among a variety of other writers, musicians and cartoonists who came together to present the culture of Iraq, Iran and Lebanon through literary and musical works created by natives on March 30 at an event called "Words for Peace 5: Condemn Invasion."
The event was hosted by the Diverseworks Art Gallery located at 1117 East Freeway, and the two major sponsors were Voices Breaking Boundaries and Words Without Borders.
Wali was born in 1956 in Iraq. He earned a degree in German Literature from Baghdad University in 1978. He revolted against Saddam Hussein’s regime, and later voluntarily exiled himself to Hamburg, Germany.
Now a freelance journalist and a cultural correspondent of the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat as well as author of a handful of novels, Wali presented a story from his childhood in Basra, Iraq that detailed his earliest memories of the Basra.
"I was born in Basra many times: in all of the stories that I heard about it, in the stories which were told around me when I was a child, in the images I formed of it during my first trips there with my mother, and in all of the experiences I lived through there in later years," Wali said.
Samantha Schnee, editor of Words Without Borders, shared the stage with Wali and read the English translation of the Basra story, which was originally written in German. Schnee had been organizing this speaking engagement for over a year and has worked closely with Wali along the way.
"I would categorize him as a humanist, because he’s showing us in this piece about Basra the humanity and the individuals, and it makes it personal for him. He shares his personal experience and it makes it personal for us," Schnee said.
Most of the lines in Wali’s story were simple, yet expressed the hardships found in his hometown.
"All these years, as I have recreated Basra, I have tried to make it breathe a different air to fill a different lung than the one with which it breathes now – a lung worn out by the cold of wars and the smoke of guns, bombs, and poison gas, clogged by the dust of the sandbags which filled its streets," Wali said.
Among the poets, novelists and singers were students from Lee High School, who read a variety of works expressing the chaotic occurrences that war brings.
Bill Crosier, co-chair of Progressive Action Alliance, was promoting his organization and was one out of many who had the chance to mingle with the speakers after the event.
"It’s one of the things that people in the United States don’t really get too much of a feeling for – culture and writings from any other country, and especially with all the conflict in the middle east and the occupation of Iraq," Crosier said.
It was a wonderful opportunity to be educated about different cultures and also a chance to network and discover related events that are soon to come, Crosier commented.
Other sponsors of the event included The Pangea Network, the Real School, Rice for Peace and Justice, The Brazos Bookstore and the Houston Peace and Justice Center.
To read publications from the Words Without Borders magazine, visit www.wordswithoutborders.org. For information on the upcoming events hosted by Voices Breaking Boundaries events, visit http://www.vbbarts.org/index.shtml.
