Marco Consoli interviewed Fatima Al-Banawi of The Other Story Project for @gioiamagazine (N39, 15/10/2016, pp. 40).
Translation of Question 4: “Can you tell me what The Other story project is about? And why did you do it?”

“I launched The Other Story Project in September 2015, right after I completed my master’s degree in Theological Studies from Harvard University, and returned back to Saudi. Like many, I had met thousands of people, and was particularly part of a program that included 18 different religious denominations, with dozens and dozens varied languages, cultures and backgrounds. I took part in several conversations depicting my part of the world, but it was hard knowing how under-represented it is, and perhaps also, misrepresented. I wanted to create a platform that invites people to be intimate with their shared humanity, to hear directly from them, to share them, and to record Jeddah city as it is and its people as they are, no editing and no filtering.

I chose to use storytelling, because the part of the world where I’m from, we’re all natural storytellers. I chose storytelling to break stereotypes, enrich the conversation, and humanize the experience. Stories also make us closer to each other, to the space we share, and to ourselves, and they can foster a stronger human connection.”