Eisa, who immediately slipped it on his finger. Gessen got down on one knee to propose marriage, presenting a silver ring to a surprised Mr. Not long after her return, on May 22, Ms. The visit fell over Ramadan and the group met at sunset to share a meal and exchange gifts. Eisa’s mother, Suheir Yaghi, 49, who works with a Syrian women’s knitting collective, Knitstanbul. Gessen and her younger brother, the family stopped in Istanbul to meet Mr. Gessen regained her emotional footing, the couple began loosely speaking of marriage. ![]() “Refugees don’t have a premium on mental health issues,” said Mr. ![]() “I couldn’t handle seeing my people killing my neighbors,” said Ms. “She’s an amazing poet who really knows how to be present for the people she loves.”īut when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, it was Mr. “Yolka is the one who will get everyone dancing in the rain,” Mr. Gessen had written 23 pages of poetry about Mr. But by early 2022, he was on board and the two became an official couple. ![]() It took a while before I could admit how much I loved her,” Mr. Gessen’s return, she was fully smitten with Mr. Gessen sharing the details of her adventure: the smell of Moscow’s subways the street food she was thrilled to return to and the taste of kompot, a sweet juice made of boiled fruit that she loved as a child. Throughout her trip, the two texted constantly with Ms. Gessen traveled to Russia for the first time since emigrating. Yet their friendship grew more intimate, and a few months later make-out sessions began to occur spontaneously. Sackler, which protests pharmaceutical companies profiting on the opioid crisis. She also threw herself into political activism, participating in Black Lives Matter protests and joining organizations such as P.A.I.N. Gessen eventually studied with private tutors and by attending continuing education courses or auditing college classes at Columbia, Barnard and New York University. would be a perfect place where we would be accepted and that there would be no racism or prejudice,” she said.Īfter struggling to fit in at a traditional high school, Ms. At school she was bullied and taunted for having queer parents. Gessen found life in her new homeland didn’t square with her expectations. Gessen’s family departed Russia in December 2013, when she was 12, and settled in New York City. “Moscow was my home, but it stopped being welcoming,” Ms. Gessen’s childhood was joyful but also fraught with uncertainty arrests and beatings of family members and those in their L.G.B.T.Q. Gessen shared the story of her own arrival in the United States. “Then the officer told me, ‘Be careful, they know and see everything here.’ ”Īt their first meeting in November 2020, Ms. “After the immigration officer read the name in my passport, I was searched and everything was inspected, including my phone and all my photos,” he said. His first experience of the country was sobering. ![]() 3, 2016, just days after his 18th birthday, he arrived in America, alone. Within the year, with financial backing from the Ad.Dar Center, a community group which supports Syrians and Palestinians, he secured a scholarship to complete his final two years of high school at Friends Select School in Philadelphia. Eisa attended high school and perfected his English by working at a traveler’s hostel. Eisa and his mother escaped to Turkey via Lebanon. Electricity was cut off food and water were scarce. In 2013, when the Syrian war escalated, the neighborhood in Homs where he lived with his mother and extended family fell under attack. For Yolka Gessen and Mohamad Eisa, the concept of home is complicated.
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