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The eyes closed for the future

Book review written by Hilde Susan Jaegtnes
The flow of the month for abo: The dream of a lost homeland is the only refugee left, as portrayed in this documentary. How can one then face the future?

If I Close My Eyes
Directed by: Francesca Mannochi and Alessio Romenzi (in collaboration with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees) (password for New Age subscribers: 'lebanon')

I remember everything. I remember the street, I remember the chickens, I remember the neighbor. I remember everything, thank God – I don't forget anything.

Lebanon with its approximately four million inhabitants huser over one million Syrian refugees. 300 of the 000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon aged 500-000 do not receive schooling. The Lebanese public schools do not have room for all Syrian children in need of schooling, despite attempts to extend the teaching time to more sessions a day. And the many informal schools that have been set up are not certified, and therefore can not issue diplomas.

In the documentary If I Close My Eyes gives the Italian directors and journalists Mannochi and Romenzi an insight into one of the informal schools run for. . .

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Hilde Susan Jaegtnes
Author and screenwriter for film and television.

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Full 100-page MODERN TIMES including the appendix Orientering and Modern Times Review comes out quarterly (March 1, June 1, September 1 and December 1) with international book reviews, essays and comments – in addition to the physical newspaper and PDF, the articles are eventually published online here (see also the newsletter).

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