In addition to the ten writers selected for printed postcards (see below) twenty-four others, Scottish PEN members and members of the Sighthill IWG, have written messages for the project. The third two to be selected for this monthly feature are Rays Geele, a refugee from Somalia, and Scottish PEN member Etta Dunn. You can read all 24 messages by clicking on the file below labelled postcards_for_web1.

Rays Geele

I remember the farm Afgoye.
My country is fertile and lush.
I miss everybody saying good morning
in my country.

Etta Dunn

Orange, green, blue
black, yellow and white
interwoven
in the fabric.
Discrete,
not blended
to dull monotony,
a synergy
the joy
of tartan Glasgow.

For the printed postcard project five writers from Scottish PEN, Jim Aitken, Mary McCabe, Susie Maguire, Liz Niven and Harry D Watson were selected to team up with five women from Sighthill International Women's Group, all speaking different languages, to create postcard messages through a process of reciprocal translation. You can read the English/Scots versions below. To order postcards at 25p each, £1.50 the set of 10, email acclarke6@btopenworld.com

SOMALI

I left the hurt behind me,
A black woman under Somalia's sun
And came here to be called black
For the meanest of reasons,
My joints aching now in the cold
Where no-one knows me or seems to care.

Somali original by Basra Ali Sharif, English version by Jim Aitken

HOME IS…
Where they say the heart is
Or maybe where the hurt is
Which is why many move home
To be where hearts feel secure.

Jim Aitken

ARABIC

Exile

Mum, Dad, Sisters forsaken in sorrow
Husband and I face a strange tomorrow
Lonesome in Glasgow my love I send
To my missed family and you, my friend
Our last exchange in anguish hurled
The first time, weeping, I left my world.

Arabic original by Maya Mohammed, English version by Mary McCabe

1496: the law
Then cam parish schools for aw
Auncient colleges embracin
Rich and middlin, Jew and Tim
Flingin wide the learnin door
Gaudeamus igitur!

Mary McCabe

KURDISH

In The Name of Allah

To you, most beautiful mother, I send
the feelings deepest in my heart,
to share with father, brother, sisters, friends;
ten long years, and a river's width of memories,
my tears always flowing the distance between us

Kurdish original by Hoda, English version by Susie Maguire

a cup of kindness

the kettle's steam
fogs the window,
turns the sunlight
white, like the skin
beneath your chin
soon we'll drink our
tea, together again

Susie Maguire

SWAHILI

Yearning

Born aff Somalia's shores,
A miss the Indian Ocean's saund beaches,
fresh food fae wir wee ferms, fish fae the sea.
Weddins naethin like hame.
Nae Kirumbizi, nae Msondo, naethin.
Hou A miss sittin ootside,
fresh breezes, roastin corn, swappin views.

Swahili original by Khadija, Scots version by Liz Niven

Wir Lan

This is wir lan trig an trim,
welcomin hearth for folk comin in.
This is wir lan hairtie an hale,
smeddum tae withstaun onie gale.

Liz Niven

TAMIL

Ten years ago
I left the heat
of Sri Lanka
for the cold of Scotland.
Left fresh food behind
for fried fare.
I miss my country!

Tamil original by Kalaranjini Uruthiralingam
English version by Harry D Watson

Scotland is
an accident of birth,
the place
where I happened
to be.

Harry D Watson

To see images of the postcards click on the icons below. To read the other postcards click on the file below labelled labelled postcards_for_web1.