Connect 4... A short documentary film through spoken word poetry

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Transcript of poem:

To the strongest woman, I know,

Manal.

It wasn’t a game of connect four,

“Players place your coloured chips in their designated slots.

Place them anywhere you’d like, you get a choice”.

She never got that choice.

She was robotically engineered with bolts and wires,

To place the coloured chips,

To place the chips into the old plastic frame that never got replaced.

To place them no matter what… into the old plastic,

Painted with society’s traditions.

I tell her to this day,

Mama, it’s not fair.

Mama was forced to wear the hijab at the age of 6,

A chip blocking her way.

Forced to drop out of school,

cause girls are meant to bear children, not knowledge

Another chip,

Forced to get married at the age of 16, three kids by the age of 21.

Chip -- Chip

She told me she dreamt of being a boy.

Because while Ridwan, her brother, kicked dirt under the sun with no care.

Mama looked out the window,

With her eyes as wide as the frame.

Looked at the birds, with her elbows cemented to the edge.

Mama never learned how to swim

Or ride a bicycle.

I know you might be thinking it’s not like that today.

But there are places in the world where girls are constantly pushed underwater,

Places where they truly cannot breathe.

Dimashq (Damascus), was one of those places.

She never knew what lay across,

What lay across her neighbourhood’s borders.

Her favourite flower is tuberose,

A type of jasmine that grows in Syria.

A flower that lives through 4 seasons,

But only blooms through one.

This flower was as white and pure as mama’s heart.

It survived the harsh winters,

Only to flourish in every corner of every street.

When they discouraged her to continue her education,

Mama didn’t care.

Mama became a teacher.

When they told her that you can never learn English,

That P isn’t pronounced like B

Mama learned English.

When they cursed at her for driving,

Mama pushed that gas pedal.

And when she moved to Canada,

She even learned how to swim and ride a bicycle.

She volunteered and finished her education,

All while raising 5 children.

To this day mama tells me that her favourite thing about Canada,

Is the girl in her kindergarten class,

Instead of being pushed underwater

They’re given wings and told to fly.

“Players place your coloured chips in their designated slots.

Place them anywhere you’d like, you get a choice”.

They never gave her a choice.

But mama connected all 4,

because thankfully she never needed their choice.