REGINA – A Syrian refugee is making a name for himself in Canada, despite tremendous odds, by documenting the refugee experience through a unique lens.
Hani al Moula has a photo of a bullet that whizzed by him as he walked to school. He said it was warm when he picked it up.
He was a teenager at the time.
“We used to pull, in this age, to the army,” he said. “I don’t want to participate in this war.”
It was then he knew Syria wouldn’t be his home for much longer.
“When we realized that it’s not safe anymore for us – there was a lot of killing without any reasons, a lot of checkpoints, bombing and burning houses,” he said. “It’s a war now. It’s not safe for anyone. When I realized that, I decided to flee to Lebanon and my family followed after.”
“You don’t care about yesterday and you don’t care about tomorrow. You’re just living. Trying to survive with anything you might get.”
Al Moula and his family ended up in a refugee camp with about 200 people in Lebanon. It was there where he was given his first camera, thanks to the UN Refugee Agency’s See What I See program.
“I didn’t have the chance to get in any universities, so I tried to find something that I care about and do something useful for myself,” he said.
Sometimes left without electricity or running water, photography became a way to pass the time in the tent city.
“You don’t care about yesterday and you don’t care about tomorrow. You’re just living. Trying to survive with anything you might get,” he said.
Al Moula saw journalists taking photos in his camp, but they’d leave just as soon as they came.
He knew he had a unique perspective, witnessing things outsiders might miss.
“Because I’m a refugee. I want people to know how it is for refugees. Their lifestyles, how they’re living and how they survive,” he said.
It’s not just his experience that changes his perspective. He was born legally blind and can’t distinguish details more than a few inches from his face.
“It’s called night-stigmas,” al Moula explained. “That makes everything out of focus.”
“Photography gives me the potential to bring everything close to me and put it on a screen.”
The focus of his work was children, including his younger siblings.
“Those kids spend their whole life without those rights, the right to play and be educated. They didn’t get that chance. They were just born and they think this is real life,” he said.
He plans to make a documentary, comparing what young refugees grow up in to what they end up accomplishing.
Al Moula still remembers when he made the decision to seek asylum.
“I can’t stay here. I lost three years. I should be in university and I should do the things I always wanted to do, follow my goals and be the person I always wanted to be.”
He ended up being granted asylum in Canada in June. Already, his photos of life in a refugee camp have caught the eye of professionals.
“I’m proud because I didn’t expect that my pictures are good enough.”
Al Moula is flying to Toronto next week as his work is being featured at the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression gala.