In 2011, the Syrian civil war erupted. Awad's family watched armed men enter their textile manufacturing warehouses and take over their family business. They handed over the keys and surrendered their generational wealth at gunpoint.

In the West, we struggle to receive the gift of the presence of another person in the present.

Mustafa’s front door is 15 minutes away from mine. 

He sleeps on the floor. I sleep in a warm bed and have only slept on the ground while camping.

This is the thought that rang in my head what when we met Yaseer and his family on the streets of Athens in 2013.