Hassan Akkad on the Power of Storytelling

All The Small Things

Venetia La Manna

Fashion & Beauty, Arts, Education, Society & Culture, Self-improvement

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hassan Akkad is a photographer, filmmaker and activist. He came to the UK in 2015 after fleeing Damascus after he was tortured by Assad's regime. He documented his journey in the BAFTA award winning documentary “Exodus: Our Journey to Europe and later caught public attention again when he applied to be a cleaner at his local hospital at the start of the COVID 19 pandemic. During his time on the COVID ward, Hassan shared images of his fellow cleaners, porters and cooks on his social media which went viral. Then, when Hassan found out that porters and cleaners working for the NHS would not be protected through the government's NHS bereavement scheme, he was outraged and his campaign to include those people in the scheme directly led to the second notorious government U-turn of 2020.

Hassan’s memoir “Hope Not Fear: Finding My Way from Refugee to Filmmaker to NHS Hospital Cleaner and Activist” was released in September 2021. It’s a searingly honest and heartbreaking account of his journey and his unparalleled compassion, kindness and advocacy. Hassan shows us that standing together and uniting in kindness and love is the single most important message of our time.

Order Hassan’s book here

Find Hassan on Instagram: @HassanAkkad and twitter @Hassan_Akkad

Find me: @venetialamanna

Find the show: @atstpodcast

Support Choose Love / Help Refugees: helprefugees.org/

This episode was co-produced by Venetia La Manna and Holly Falconer. It was edited by Nada Smiljanic. The music was composed by William Haxworth and the artwork was designed by Alex Sedano.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome back to all the small things with me Venetia Lamanna. If you're new here,
0:08.6	you are so very welcome. In this podcast, I am going to be talking to some incredible
0:15.0	thought leaders and change makers who are really doing such important work for both
0:19.8	people and planet. Now this week is no exception. I'm going to be speaking to one of the
0:25.6	most inspiring people I've had the privilege of meeting. Before we get there, if you're
0:30.4	new to the show, I would absolutely love if you could subscribe and listen back to some
0:34.4	other episodes. I have some absolute coolkers in the archive for you and I really, really
0:40.0	hope you enjoy them.
0:42.2	Hassan Akad is a documentary filmmaker, photographer and activist. He fled Syria in 2015 and
0:52.9	after an extremely traumatic three-month journey across Europe, he arrived in London.
0:59.6	He documented his journey, which later became part of the BAFTA award-winning documentary
1:05.1	Exodus, Our Journey to Europe. Hassan also works closely with Choose Love, a refugee advocacy
1:13.3	organisation, whose important work I'm sure listeners are familiar with and if you're
1:18.6	not, I will leave a link to them in the episode notes.
1:21.8	At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he applied to be a cleaner at his local hospital
1:26.9	Whips Cross in East London and during his time on the COVID ward, Hassan shed images of
1:33.1	his fellow cleaners, porters and cooks on his social media, which went viral. Then when
1:38.9	he found out that porters and cleaners working for the NHS would not be protected through
1:43.9	the government's NHS bereavement scheme, he was outraged and his campaign to include
1:49.2	those people in the scheme directly led to the second notorious government new turn of
1:54.3	2020.
1:55.6	Hassan's been featured in Vogue, The Guardian and BBC News to name a few and he has just
	...

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