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Kefah Ali Deeb

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Syrian writer, artist and human rights activist (born 1982)
Kefah Ali Deeb
كفاح علي ديب
Kefah Ali Deeb in 2019
Born1982 (age 41–42)
Latakia, Syria
Alma materDamascus University
Occupation(s)Writer, visual artist, museum guide
Years active2012–present
Known forHuman rights activism, Multaka museum guide
AwardsSharjah Arab Creativity Award 2012
Websitekefahalideeb.com

Kefah Ali Deeb (Arabic: كفاح علي ديب; born 1982 in Latakia, Syria) is a Syrian human rights activist, artist and writer. She left Syria after persecution during the Syrian war and has been living in exile in Berlin, Germany, since 2014. In Germany, she has been interviewed and published her own opinion columns about the life of migrants in German newsmedia and online projects. Since 2015, she has also been active as a museum guide for the Multaka project, an initiative of Berlin museums to convey art historical contexts to Arabic-speaking visitors. As writer and translator she also has published several books for children in Arabic.

Life and career

Having grown up in the district of Latakia on the Mediterranean coast, Ali Deeb graduated from the Department of Fine Art at the University of Damascus in 2012. After having taken part in protests against human rights violations in the context of the Arab Spring in Syria, she was arrested four times and finally fled to Germany in 2014.

In January 2014, Ali Deeb and three other Syrian women were invited by UN Women to a conference ahead of the United Nations international peace conference for Syria in Geneva (Geneva II). As a spokesperson for the Syrian Women's Initiative for Peace and Democracy, she called for Syrian women to be included in peace talks and for equality between women and men to be respected by future Syrian governments. In addition, her delegation demanded that the Syrian authorities as well as the opposition allow the unhindered access of humanitarian and medical aid to all areas, under the supervision of an independent international commission.

In 2015, her interviews and opinion columns about the difficulties of life as a refugee were published in the German weekly Die Zeit. From 2016 to 2019, Ali Deeb also wrote a series for the daily newspaper die tageszeitung about negative stereotypes towards migrants and her own difficulties in finding accommodation and learning the German language. In 2016, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published an interview with her, writer Antje Rávic Strubel and German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier about questions relating to the future of Syria and the role of writers in shaping public opinions about migrants.

Further, Ali Deeb was editor for the Arabic version of the Handbook Germany, a multilingual information platform for migrants. The online platform We Refugees, funded by the Federal German Agency for Civic Education, published Ali Deeb’s descriptions of her escape from Syria, the loss of her home and her experiences in a refugee accommodation.

As part of the award-winning project "Multaka - Museum as Meeting Point", Ali Deeb and other Syrian and Iraqi migrants have been conducting guided tours in Arabic since 2015 in various historical museums in Berlin. One of the archaeological exhibits that she found a personal relation with is a statue of the Syro-Phoenician deity Hadad. For Ali Deeb, this is an example of the origins of her homeland's religions in ancient myths.

Painting of an empty chair, by Kefah Ali Deeb

In Syria, Ali Deeb's paintings were shown in several collective exhibitions at the Center for Fine Arts in Latakia. In 2016, she exhibited her paintings and graphic art at the Institut français in Bonn, Germany, along fellow Syrian artists Darin Ahmad, Fouad El-Auwad, Akram Hamza and Adnan Sharbaji. These works included a painting of an empty chair, created while she was still living in Syria, and represented her artistic vision of Syrian victims and refugees.

As a freelance writer, artist and workshop moderator, Ali Deeb continues to run art and writing workshops for children and women. During her early years in Syria, she had written stories and articles for the children's magazine “Osama”, published by the Ministry of Culture. Also, she was editor-in-chief of the Syrian children's magazine “Rainbow”, funded by Save the Children. In Germany she wrote the Arabic version of a teachers' guide for the multilingual children's book Wir Kinder aus dem FlüchtlingsHeim (We children from the refugee shelter). In addition to her own books for Arabic children, Ali Deeb has translated several German children's books into Arabic, promoted by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Awards

  • Sharjah Arab Creativity Award 2012

Selected publications

Books in Arabic for children, titles given in English translation

  • The Adventures of Kepritah, Sharjah (UAE) 2018, ISBN 9789948393962.
  • Turtle Picnic, Sharjah (UAE) 2012, ISBN 9789948049050

Translations from German to Arabic

  • Julia Boehme and Julia Ginsbach, Tiger fragt: Warum?, Kalima, VAE
  • Karen Christine Angermeyer and Elke Broska, Rubinia Wunderherz, Kalima, VAE
  • Wolfdietrich Schnurre and Rotraut Susanne Berner, Die Prinzessin kommt um vier, Kalima, VAE

Anthology of writings on exile

  • Three essays by Ali Deeb in Harald Roth, ed. (2022). Kein Land, nirgends? (in German). Bonn: Dietz. ISBN 978-3-8012-0644-4.

References

  1. ^ "Imago Mundi Collection". imagomundicollection.org. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  2. "Syria's cultural heritage recreated in Berlin's Pergamon Museum". 2016-07-04. Archived from the original on 2024-06-07. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  3. "Keffah Ali Deeb: A symbol of Syria's nonviolent resistance movement". syriauntold.com. 2013-08-10. Archived from the original on 2024-05-05. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  4. "Syrian women demand voice at UN-brokered talks". Associated Press News. 2014-01-13. Archived from the original on 2024-05-04. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  5. "Press release: Conference of Syrian women, convened by UN Women and the Netherlands, ends with strong recommendations for upcoming peace talks". 2014-01-13. Archived from the original on 2024-06-07. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  6. "Flüchtlingsblog: #AskRefugees", Zeit Online, retrieved 2024-05-05
  7. Kefah Ali Deeb (2016-06-20), "Flüchtlinge: Wer Hilfe will, muss sauber sein", Die Zeit, Hamburg, ISSN 0044-2070, archived from the original on 2024-05-05, retrieved 2024-05-05
  8. taz. die tageszeitung. "Artikel von Kefah Ali Deeb - taz.de" (in German). Archived from the original on 2024-05-04. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  9. Kaube, Jürgen (2016-05-07). "Europäische Schriftstellerkonferenz: Das Schlimmste wäre es, sich jetzt zu verstecken". FAZ.NET (in German). Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  10. "Germany from A to Z | Handbook Germany". handbookgermany.de. Archived from the original on 2024-06-07. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  11. Kefah Ali Deeb. "The Syrian coast in the nose". Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  12. "Multaka" (in German). Archived from the original on 2024-05-07. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  13. "Berlin refugee guides show off cultural riches from home". UNHCR. Archived from the original on 2023-05-16. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  14. "Kefah Ali Deeb: Weather God Hadad. Multaka in 4 Berlin museums". universes.art. Archived from the original on 2024-06-07. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  15. Bonn, General-Anzeiger (2016-05-24). "Syrische Künstler stellen in Bonn aus: Hommage an die Heimat". General-Anzeiger Bonn (in German). Archived from the original on 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  16. Trần, Hoa Mai, Friese, Marie (2022-02-11). ""Wir gehören dazu!" : Pädagogisches Begleitmaterial zum Kinderbuch "Wir Kinder aus dem (Flüchtlings-)Heim"" (PDF). situationsansatz.de (in German). p. 162. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-05-05. Retrieved 2024-05-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. "Tiger fragt Warum? - kefahalideeb.com". Archived from the original on 2024-05-07. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  18. Kalima (2024). "Kalima Publishers - our releases". kalima.ae (in Arabic). Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre. Archived from the original on 2024-05-07. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  19. مركز الاتحاد للأخبار (2012-02-13). "إعلان نتائج جائزة «الشارقة للإبداع العربي»" () (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2024-06-07. Retrieved 2024-05-04.

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