What I Learned In Prison | Omar Alshogre | TEDxSSE

I appreciate that my father was an officer it was my safety I hate it bad my father was an officer he never told me that he loved me and I'm happy I was as you only the best students at school but I'm sad but I have learned that school was wrong I grow up in a big family I had eight siblings and one of my past members of my family was in age 14 when I I remember well how was well how I was fighting with my siblings to prove that I was the most handsome boy at home I was like fighting seriously I am and I really was an age of 17 I was confiting but this time I was fighting to prove that why my voice what the deburr boys at home my father was an officer so when he talks talks like that so I want to be man big man as soon as possible and in the age of 17 the Syrian government but I want to call them that dark forces arrested me and put me in jail and in jail I got four a centimeter square to live in like 40 something meters not more and so four hours is late four hours of torture two hours time to eat your food and go to the toilet and you have 14 hours when you have your Square and a person in front of you in a change the situation because you sit down for four hours and you should stand up to low the person in front of you to sit down because we had no space everyone got square but not your own she'd chair this square with someone else let's not was sleeping the first four hours they put me in this room I I could not imagine more than I'm gonna stay there for two hours like I was so scared of staying there more than two hours like too much say I get blazed for my faith during the first time because people don't give you more space to get everyone is fighting to survive and I got place to stand up but if you want to just pressing my feet and in watch what's happening like why we can't have bigger room like bigger space like my robe on it but then I had at my home after four days of standing up and falling down people hit you you stand up again fall down it hits you stand up again fall down the hit you stand again I get a square started fighting to get my square because if you don't fight to get it no one can I gave it you I get my place and I wanted to sleep for the first time in this position and I saw how people is doing but still difficult I was happy when I sit down for the first time because you feel how comfortable is it but at the two minutes only two minutes with the pain in your knees because you well port then you stand up you lose your space you should wait eight hours because not to your turn you lost your turn someone take your place then you have four hours for someone else then you have four hours of torture two hours of food then the sleeping hours you lose one day you'd stand up like just standing out then you put pain pain in your your and you're just just poles you take one of the feet up and you lose everything you can't leave it back any more until people we should just do it again all people stand up like we've made it one once a day people send up which right if try to get 50% standing up at 50% stand down done we change together the situation like what's terrible for me the first month but after six month I'd used to that and everybody here can use this situation sit down and sleep and have bad or good dreams you sleep like that when you tired from this way you sleep like that that's so many options but there is options were not allowed to speak it's in first year you've never heared any voice only the guard hitting you but when they hit you you not allowed to scream when they hit you with about the Balthasar on the car tire hits you you can't say ah you get more torture if you do that to even let the load to do that so silent the whole time and once a person was really tired of being silent was strong enough courage enough to whisper and ask the person next to him oh and when you hear a whisper for the first time you get scared because if the guard hear that you're gonna be tortured you're gonna be like it you have four hours every day if you do that you're gonna have eight hours of torture and you don't want to experience that if you don't understand what torture means like to start with what your nails taking out your nails then you have the shock in your body and they hang up to the ceiling and you lose you your arms you can't just move them in long time or more than that it's only the start of torture so you don't want anyone to whisper but when he asked him who are you and the person as we do in Syria you present your work first your education so he said I'm doctor stava other one here that was supposed to say I am the engineer Mohammed the other one said I'm the economists aw and the teacher and I felt somehow the questions coming to me and I wasn't know what like I was only Omer not the doctor or not I think for me was like Shane out present myself I have nothing to say like Oh any of builds that one injection of my shoulder sir people's talking for the first time in long time and I said it was like not more I was expecting people to look at all only over when I say to Omar two three four five people together just give me a hug oh you're amazing being only Omer not the doctor these people mentioned to me that they hear the torture they can't talk but they hear the torture and one all we will get back to their to their cell and one person standing still there in the torture floor eating 100 more belts it's Omar because his name I was risk because of my name and I get 100 bail every time one people is back in their cell so people looked at me as a hero first time you know that people around you is well educate people so people knew that I'm Omer so what they torture me I get back to myself that doctor tell me how to take care of my wounds and the psychologist told me how to be happy when they torture you and economists how to share our food and the lawyer behind us talking about how to have a good system a dictator free system and imprison because there is always some prisoners was really hungry and tired torturer wanna have some power and kill other people and take their food and we followed that we was following what the lawyers were making this law and system democratic system we built in prison but we understood that we have a big problem because the first law was you're not allowed to mention your freedom or your family because it has very bad psychological effect in you because you're gonna miss your family think about your children yours or your girlfriend or boyfriend anything you get a beat so sad for that so the first boy in prison was no one is allowed to mention family or home if anyone do that we're gonna put you in the corner everyone was respecting that law but the only problem was with engineering engineers no one was following that law everyone you know the lawyer how to have a good system and that doctor how to take care of you but the engineers talking how to rebuild this horrific place the prison to make it a better place which means if you gave deburr and details you should be out rebuild this prison which means freedom you're not allowed to mention freedom so we get tired of this engineers so we put them in the corner to dialo without like springing them they're bacteria affecting us and the christmas is here people have more hope and you alowed to mention your family when it's the Christmas time here's you know that feeling it's Christmas nice days I should like to think about my family but when the Christmas is over and you get no food and two days without water you you punished from the guard because the guard when I go home but they are not allowed to do that people start to die people who were standing all down and die people sitting of them down without torture you die you sit in the corner you die the people who was not dying was engineers in the corner with the hope that they can a rebuild this prison the only group of people who had the hope about getting out of prison was engineers that Howe made a lot people was focusing at me in prison because I was 17 years old and it was not my first time in prison for my seventh time in prison I was arrested seven different times before that is it my name so everyone said oh my can survive longer time because his wounds could be held in very short time because he's still young so everyone was like teaching me something you do that to take care of your wounds so I set out and was like whispering and learning because you're not coming to handles hug school on you learn something and you don't need everything but there were you learn in prison was everything was really important so everything I learned I was practicing correctly every day everywhere with my cell mates and prison everyone whispering you should Turkish to here which means but like a lot whispers and since I was in prison I was calling that the University of whispers for a long time I only remember being in prison was a university for me be held for years in prison and I get out well I still handsome but and I get out prison was standing in front of the mirror for the first time I was given to slowly because I in three years did not seem myself and they knew I was more skinny because of the starvation in prison that was coming to the mirror and so excited to see like I lost my memory in prison first at the last month in prison was losing my members sake not remember my family or how I look like but again the only thing I could remember that I was handsome that was coming to this mirror come up so slowly as to clothes and I saw something it was not nice I just turned back to see who is behind me it was nothing so I looked back and it was terrible face blood in the eyes in the no new nose in the mouth and I had no hair and everything was ugly I hadn't there just bones in my head I was 34 killers and I had to be safe but I had a big smile because what I learned in prison was enough to have easy laugh until you die what I was there I never thought about getting out prison our thing about learn as much as possible to survive as long as possible imprison because when I was in prison they were said my cousin who said Omar they killed your brothers and they killed your mother and your siblings I get a prison I don't remember anyone so I could not be sad for an agent at not having anyone so I just get out of prison and don't know anything a woman was talking with me on skype crying and asking me if I remember well never what may well but no I don't know well I'll get it out the problem wasn't that I did not remember my mom who was survived who survived and was standing in front me in the sky but the problem was that she could not replace me she was trying to ask me questions to know if I am her son or not and then my mother ended the call and called the man who was taking me outside of prison getting twenty thousand dollars and called them or send him in what's up and said the man started the voice and they don't recognize this voice and that voice were saying I trying to break me it's not my son my son is handsome well what did she say to handsome I got some feeling it's my mother I was always sad my father never told me that he loves me never because he was an officer even if my father want to tell me something I should stand in front of him like that you can't do or go to the toilet you know the load is an officer so I hated the flyff want to have like father like other people but I was happy to be safe today my father is not officer anymore that's okay I can take care of myself I learned in prison how to define to know what's wrong what's right they can take care of myself but the problem is my father still doesn't tell me that he loves me and I'm sure he's not gonna do that the government killed him and killed two of my brothers but that's something our seeing everyday in prison I saw more than 18,000 dead bodies some of them died between my arms in my arms like my cousin and his brother my other cousin but what I know today is I am here still alive and still have this big smile what made me strong happy is the knowledge and how he used this knowledge we get the right education everyone needs I don't recommend you to be in prison they recommend you to learn more not only what you learn from school it's cool it's like so much of what you need in your life I am over I'm free try to know what framing it's important and thank you you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 98,622

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Life, Education, Prison, War

Id: d0yMq0-lHC4

Length: 20min 46sec (1246 seconds)

Published: Tue May 28 2019