São Paulo – Five Syrians living in Brazil under refugee status are exhibiting at the Ethnic Fair opening this Friday (17) at São Paulo mall Shopping Center 3. Items on sale at the fair include perfumes, shishas, paintings, lighting fixtures, purses, dolls, turbans, etc. The vendors are from Haiti, Senegal, Togo, the British Guyana, Nigeria, and Syria.
Syria’s Rasha Al Mubayed is offering cup holders, mandalas, and wooden candleholders and lighting fixtures crafted by her husband. She told ANBA that this is how they provide for their family. They have two girls and Rasha is expecting another one. She likes Brazil, since the kids can go to school and there are no bombs.
Rasha sells her family-made items at fairs held by the non-governmental organization Adus – Institute for the Reintegration of Refugees. Adus is partners with Shopping Center 3 for the Ethnic Fair. The event is taking place at the mall’s Lounge Center 3, on the Cinelândia floor, next to the movie theaters, until next Sunday (19).
Another Syrian exhibitor at the fair is Noura Alkalas. An accountant by trade, Noura had just graduated and was starting her career when the war made life impossible in Syria. She spent a year in Jordan and then set off to Brazil with her husband. At Shopping Center 3, Noura is selling T-shirts. She also cooks to order for birthdays, wedding parties and smaller celebrations.
Noura enjoys living in Brazil. She says Brazilians are “nice people” who treat her as an equal. Even the hijab, the Muslim veil, is well accepted, which isn’t necessarily the case in other countries, she explains. Noura is a Muslim and has no children. She has been in Brazil for roughly three years now.
Another Syrian selling goods at the fair in Shopping Center 3 is Anas Obeid, a journalist who turned to trade to make a living in Brazil. Obeid sells custom-made perfumes, shishas and other objects. Fitoon Assi sells purses, fabric and accessories, and Nema Khaled is offering her paintings of Syria, as well as rendering Arab calligraphy services. Back in Syria, Fitoon used to work at a clinical analysis lab and as a fine artist.
Also on sale at the fair are paintings by the Haitian fine artist Dady Simon, African clothes and scarves by Senegal’s Fatima Diouf, fabric and handicraft by Togo’s Komlan Mondjro, dolls and textile accessories by the British Guyana’s Renee Ross Londja, and African turbans by Nigeria’s Temitope Kmolafe. Kety Shapazian of Brazil is selling flowers at the fair to help out her daughter Gabriela Shapazian, who works at refugee camps.
The Ethnic Fair is part of a bigger event sponsored by Adus and Shopping Center 3, called “Refugees, a home called São Paulo,” which will continue until May 21. Every Sunday at 3 pm, there will be music concerts and dance performances by refugees. The Senegalese band Sunugal is playing Next Sunday (19).
The Macedonian fine artist Blagojco Dimitrov made an intervention in the sculpture AmoSP, located in front of the mall. Dimitrov has been in Brazil for 23 years now. He built a solid career for himself in the art world, and is a partner at a gallery.
On the walls of the mall there are black and white photographs by Felipe Grespan of refugees from several countries, along with information about refugees in Brazil. The photos’ subjects are immigrants receiving assistance from Adus.
Quick facts:
Ethnic Fair
March 17 to 19, 2017
Shopping Center 3
Avenida Paulista, 2.064 – Cerqueira César – SP
Find out more: www.shoppingcenter3.com.br
Phone: +55 11 3285-2458
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
