Jumana Al-Rishq

Jumana Al-Rishq is a 27-year-old refugee living in the Palestinian diaspora. “My family was displaced in the Nakba from Haifa and Hebron, and they fled the wars in Lebanon and Kuwait until they reached Jordan, where I was born.” Joumana now lives in the ungranted lands of Likuangen (Victoria, Canada).

“I learned the stories of my people and our deep connection to our land, not just as a nationality, but as our relationship to olive trees, almonds, and figs. Palestine was never a place, it was human beings.

I found myself in Canada, learning about the lands I came to, studying sustainable agriculture, herbal medicine, political science, and indigenous methods of the land – learning the stories the land owns, those that cannot be changed by colonization. I realized that this land too had been stolen, just like mine.

I connect story, land, and liberation by being a filmmaker working on a short documentary about indigenous people, immigrants, and communities of color in their relationship to food as it relates to land and culture in a project called Living in Liberation. I am also an herbalist and community organizer and grow food for my community.”