About Us
Before we go any further, let us tell you a story:
It took us several weeks to get down to answering the question: “who are we?” Even writing the terms and conditions for the website seemed easier!
The reason is simple: as two naturally reserved people, it seemed a lot easier (we must admit it!) to talk about Meraya; its characteristics and philosophy… which, if truth be told, reveal a lot about our respective characters.
So, enough of this self-reflexion, here is a tentative response to the question “who are we?”.
As mentioned above there are two of us: Ali, who grew up in East Turkey, then in France where he attended secondary school and sixth form in Picardy, and Pierre, who lived in Egypt where he studied at the French school of Cairo. Between us, we therefore grew up speaking four languages: Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and French.
It was in the Autumn of 2013 that our paths crossed in one of the most unexpected of places: Menton, a small French town on the coast, on the border with Italy. We had both enrolled at Sciences Po, more specifically at its Menton campus which specialises in the Middle East and the Mediterranean (see the photo above!)
What can we say about the two years that we spent there? We were two ordinary students, a bit shy, but involved in many of the university’s events and societies, both sport and cultural. One other thing- it was at this moment that we sketched out our plans for Meraya whilst sitting on the rocks of Menton beach (believe it or not!).
From this point on, Meraya (it didn’t yet have its name) was in our lives for good despite our going our separate ways geographically after Menton! In the autumn of 2015, Ali left to study in Jordan to improve his Arabic whilst Pierre spent an Erasmus year in the United Kingdom. The following year, Ali ran around between Belgium, Iraqi Kurdistan and France, doing several internships at the same time. Pierre, meanwhile, began a Master’s Degree in Paris in International Affairs, specialising in security and the Middle East at Sciences Po.
Despite the distance, we added to our website regularly: we translated into French, English, Turkish and Arabic. We translated articles about the Middle East, discussing, for example, preparations for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, the network of human traffickers taking advantage of the refugee crisis, ecology in Morocco and many other topics besides.
In 2017, we finally found ourselves in the same area: Pierre finished his Masters degree whilst Ali started one, also in International Affairs but specialising in the fields of environment and diplomacy. It was at this moment that Meraya started to really take off: it got its new name (Meraya), a new website, new contributors and new ideas. We continued to translate articles but we also encouraged our contributors to write their own articles, poems and publications.
In the summer of 2018, we went our separate ways geographically, once again. Whilst Ali continued studying in Paris, Pierre found himself teaching French at the University of St Andrews. There were therefore fewer publications on Meraya’s website but we continued to discuss it frequently amongst ourselves.
At the end of 2021, we took the decision to make the project “official”. In January 2022 Meraya became a Not-for-Profit Organisation (NPO) under the French law of 1901. Our aim is that Meraya is a platform and a meeting place for a community of people: readers, writers and translators who are convinced that dialogue and debate enable a better understanding of the world. Meraya offers original content on a multilingual website, discussion groups and debates. All these tools and resources create a rich environment of dialogue and exchange. Meraya, at its core, is an initiative where everybody is welcome to come, learn more about the world and share their ideas by reflecting them off a mirror (Meraya, means “mirror” in Arabic).