Unity is the companion of the expatriate breakfast in Turkey .. How do they spend their Ramadan day?

"Ramadan is going on in the country of exile and I am alone. Iftar is painful in exile, it is a quiet breakfast to the point where our inner voices rise, which we try to silence repeatedly."

Iraqi Shahd al-Samarrai sighs as she describes her state of alienation in Turkey, a bite of longing with every morsel she takes at breakfast in the month of Ramadan, as alienation is not a kind of luxury for Arab expatriate girls, but rather a journey to search for an environment that embraces their dreams of studying and working, no matter how difficult it is.

Shahd was about 4 years old in exile, and she is a master's student in architectural design, and she spent half of the estranged years in a separate residence, and the other half in a dormitory for female students, and this is what makes her guarantee a few hours of her day in which her colleagues share meals at breakfast time, and sometimes acts of worship .

Unity challenge

Al-Samarrai believes that the challenge is not in feeling lonely during fasting.

Rather, it is at the moment of preparing breakfast food and then “because you are alone, you are sitting at the table alone” at mealtimes.

However, what squanders alone witnessed inviting her relatives and acquaintances to the breakfast table, describing these moments as "beautiful and sociable times, but they soon remind me that I am far from my family!"

Shahd recalls the atmosphere of her Ramadan family and compares it with her Iftar, "there is a difference between my mother's wonderful cooking that I crave literally every day, and my modest cooking that is quick and simple, albeit delicious."

Shahd Al-Samarrai: There is a difference between my mother's wonderful cooking that I crave literally every day and my humble one (Al-Jazeera)

Ramadan family is linked to worship

In the Samurai family, Ramadan is mainly linked to worship, and is devoid of watching soap operas or any entertainment materials, while Shahd made this rule an exception when it comes to alienation, as she spends some time watching TV.

She says, "Time passes slower and you are alone, and you do not always find something easy to go through."

The alienation life of girls is not without challenges, and as you see it, she witnessed “preserving my personal identity and my values, and assuming my material and moral responsibility, as well as challenging the new language and life in the big city of Istanbul, and continuing to strive to achieve the desired goal of alienation with the formation of a society and companionship that makes me live in New place. "

childhood memories

Walaa Eid is a Palestinian journalist who has lived for 5 years in Turkey, where she found a wider door to provide media work opportunities that she did not find in Lebanon where she was residing.

Walaa Hamiya misses the family atmosphere of Ramadan, and despite the presence of her brother on a journey of exile, he does not make up for the "soul at large family gatherings" atmosphere full of Ramadan rituals and the details of the table full of varieties of food.

Eid tries to imitate her mother in preparing breakfast, but she does not have the same "cooking breath". She also longs for the jellab juice, which she used to taste from her mother's hand in the month of Ramadan, and no one else is similar in its distinctive taste, as Walaa describes.

Great responsibilities

In estrangement, she rests with the loyalty of most of the tasks, from the moment of thinking about breakfast and then preparing it and the subsequent cleaning and arrangement, and her brother helps her to provide for the needs from outside the home, but when she was with her family, she divided the tasks and responsibilities among the family members. Which I should coordinate with the times of worship during Ramadan, and also with my journalistic work. "

However, alienation in the perspective of loyalty, "the girl learns to be more strong, and gradually makes her have a sense of responsibility, and also becomes more mature in any situation she goes through, and the challenge of learning the Turkish language and integrating with society is a fruitful experience that benefits her in her life."

Iftar breakfast wala Eid (the island)

Habit of alienation

9 years in Turkey is long enough for nutritionist Eman Jamal to live alienated with all her details and challenges, as she has had enough experience in arranging her days schedule in Ramadan without her family.

Eman used to shop after the end of her work to buy what she needed to prepare breakfast food, and not necessarily to cook if she was tired, she says, "Often times I eat anything that is present, for a morsel that fills the hunger of fasting."

Family is happiness

Iman's memory goes back to her Ramadan day with the family in Egypt, as everyone participates in preparing an Iftar dinner filled with food and drinks, and is not without the exchange of conversations between family members in an atmosphere full of happiness.

But Iman has become accustomed to the way of life of alienation in Turkey because it is a highly organized country, according to what he described, and feels as if it is in her country, Egypt, and despite that some financial challenges overwhelm her. She says, “Sometimes I feel that I am the man, and I hope to be with my family in order to get rid of the responsibilities, I hope that these difficult times will pass so that I can return and continue my life with great energy. "

Iman stresses that it is important to coordinate her tasks at home and at work, and the matter is not without the help of a group of acquaintances and friends in facing some challenges.

Breakfast trip Iman Jamal (Al Jazeera)

A bit and a bite

Marwa Zaitoun is a doctoral student in dentistry and she is from Syria. She lived two years ago, the first in Jordan, and the current second in Turkey, two years ago.

Marwa felt sad at the beginning of her exile, then she began to accept the matter, especially with her immersion in study, but the exile in the month of Ramadan is more painful. She says, “Iftar is alone, a strange feeling, as if someone is pressing on my heart, some of them think because there is no one who cooks for me. That was not my main problem, it was the feeling of a lump. "

Marwa resorted to sharing cooking with her partner in the dorm room, and sometimes they exchange breakfast dishes to create an atmosphere of intimacy and affection that might break the feeling of loneliness.

Marwa spends her day's time preparing for exams, and with the circumstances of the Corona pandemic, university attendance has become "remote", and she finds it a greater challenge when organizing her time in Ramadan. She also allocates time for worship, self-development and volunteer activities, and she practices her hobby by training Arabic calligraphy or hearing poetry.

The alienation taught the university student Marwa the burden of responsibility alone, even if a big challenge came to her, by "I look at the worst that might happen, and I seek to reduce the losses if the matter comes out of my hands."