About us....

In 2002, after several trips to India that made us realize the richness of different cultures through music, encounters, friendship and also material solidarity, we decided to create the non-profit Sharing and Culture Sarasvati with the following goal:

"Sharing material, cultural and spiritual wealth"

In India, the Godess Sarasvati is traditionally the protector of students. She will be particularly called upon to help with our new challenge, sadly a common one today.

This is first a story of friendship.

We met the Alwanis in Benares, India, in 2017. They were a happy family from Yemen. Ali, the father, an academic, and his 6 children were pursuing their studies successfully and Eman, the mother, was volunteering in an NGO. We became friends.

When Ali's student visa expired, India did not want to let them stay. With the war going on in Yemen, the could'nt go back home. Jordan was the only country to grant them a three-month tourist visa.

Let's introduce you to:

Eman et Ali

We were touched by Eman's lifepath and sincerity. She got married at 14, is the 36-year-old mother of 6 children aged 6 to 20, has only experienced life as a housewife yet demonstrates a great desire to learn and a crave for freedom, curiosity for life, a broad mind and unusual smartness.

Ali is older. He had taught History at university, finished a PhD in Management of Education while in India. An intellectual with a love for books, studies, discussion of political and social issues, he suffers from being excluded from social life.

The children

At 20, Majeed is the eldest son. He was allowed to stay in India to finish high-school but his visa will exprire in April 2020.

At 14, RZA (pronounce Reza) is a mature and creative girl, and a photographer at heart. She has a wonderful voice and sings beautifully. A brilliant student, she is full of ideas. You hear her sing on all the videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCyaclIvdYA

Doa, 6 years old, is the youngest. She is a clown, loves to dance (like in the video below, filmed in Petra), dreams and makes up stories. Always cheerful, she is a ray of sunshine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy0Jr4QpGLQ

Elyas is 16. He is musician who, more than anythinfg, loves his guitar to accompany his sister and sing.

Eba,10 years old, is also an artist who loves to create with her hands. She is more interested in plastic arts, particularly drawing that she'd like to study to make it her career. She has a strong personality.

Alaa is 12 and a kid full of energy. She is always moving, jumping and climbing. She has discovered the violin with Jerome and wants to learn how to play. Our non-profit has lent her a violin, and she meets Jerome for a lesson every day on Messenger. She is making quick progress.

Here is her first piece after a month of work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkzDe50s1Jg

What is their future now?

Today, they have to leave Yemen behind them.

In this video, Eman clearly explains why returning to Yemen is impossible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoBrduW-6oY&t=26s

Furthermore, Ali had taken a stand for democracy, human rights and secularism. Today, this puts him at rik of arrest and death on arrival in Yemen. In late September, a militia came looking for him at the house of Eman's mother.

And in Jordan?

Jordan already hosts over one million Syrian refugees. It offers them humanitarian assistance but no hope for integration. There is no support at all for Yemenis.They cannot work nor enroll there children in school.

A solution in sight? A hope, rather: a visa to France to claim asylum

This is a long and tortuous administrative maze!

But we are lucky!

A friend who has been living in Amman for 25 years, a researcher specializing on refugees in the Middle East, will guide them on the Jordanian part of the journey. She has already supported Syrians successfully.

Learning French is an absolute necessity and an important requirement to obtain the visa.

The French Institute in Amman offers progressive learning sessions for all ages, by series of 40h. It includes 11 levels of which 5 are necessary to feel comfortable during an interview.

In order not to waste time, Eman and Rza have started taking courses since 2 September, with financial support from our non-profit.

http://www.ifjordan.com

But let the whole family learn and the older children follow the 5 sessions.

All of them already speak 3 languages fluently: Arabic, English and Hindi. They are not afraid to learn a fourth.

Let's not waste the human richness of this wonderful and talented family, full of joy and hope. Let's help them out of this geopolitical trap by

Sharing French language and Culture.

Sarasvati thanks you ......

When Sarasvati teaches French !