1 out of 14 million: aladdin
this is the story of aladdin who ran after his dream to be a model from gambia to turkey.
in this modern times, one may only have human rights when he or she is a country’s citizen. this story will tell you the fate of a man’s hopes, anger, happiness or victory.
we are walking with aladdin in an istanbul district where the parks are full of immigrants who sleep by their luggages in turns. “i am thinking of moving to kadıköy when i set the things right,” he tells me. he observed people in widely diversed city of istanbul avoid talking to each other on the streets. “that’s very cool, everyone lives in their own head.” i do not complitely agree with what he says, but it is a too beautiful day to give him a headache with my perspective.
aladdin is out for picking new clothes for a photo shoot as we talk on his passionate and decisive ideas about his future. aladdin is a man you can easily spot in a crowd even though now the streets are relatively empty since it’s ramadan.
he is full of life, 24 years old, walking like he flies in his dreams.
he is fair son of a self-giving mother who raised him and his siblings all by herself. “[in gambia] men manage to find a job but women…” he starts to explain why he left the school. he went on educating himself though, he learned five languages. he left the school because he wanted to economically support his sister to go to college but he is ok with it, because he found what he wanted to be in the end: a model. he walked on the stages of many different muslim countries, ignoring the traditions’ oppression he faced as a male model. he embraced the joy of being looked at. he says “i believe some day i will be a super model, and in the end someone inspiring the youth.”
he convinced his mom to pay 500 u.s. dollars participation fee of “future fashion faces world 2016” in turkey’s antalya and his flight to this city which was about 600 u.s. dollars.
before coming to turkey what he heard most was the isis attack in istanbul’s atatürk airport. as his dreams grew the world got smaller. probably gambia’s most challenger model became a winner in this contest and also gained two more titles as the best face and the best coach.
he keeps the photos of news about his win in his phone. they are almost the same reports of a copy-paste from the news release. but this great success did not result in a carrier jump as he imagined. the right people did not knock his door. he is very sorry for not being able to walk on the stage of mercedes-benz fashion week fall 2017 istanbul. “this great thing happened in the city i lived in but i was not there. i can not believe it,” he says. he did not give up though, his netwotking and freelance jobs continue.
as we walk another day, he is a little less cheerful but keeps being passsionate, begins to tell in a very serious mood:
“the guys you met at my place, they are hiding the truth from me. i mean they do not see the reality about this city and keep telling me the same things. only thing a black man can do in this city is working at a factory they believe. but, look at around you, how come they can believe this. the tall one remember? he does not talk to me anymore. i do not know exactly why but i think it is because i believe the opposite,” he says. i interrupt “so you believe there are many chances in this city?” he goes “yes, absouletly. i see many people working, doing only their bussiness. it is up to you. you must have a plan. i am sure there are many chances in this city.” i can not think of a word to tell him. i have no idea how is it like to be black man in this city. i am not sure if he raised his eyebrow with a doubt or with as an approval waiting gesture… i can not read any gesture of this city where i was born lived all my life in. then the things we talk change immediately by itself…