At the end of The day I was a citizen.
It was our first interview of the day. He opened his office doors to us and offered us cold beverages and sweets. —
His Story:
I never thought that someday in my life I would see dead kids scattered in the streets. It was far away from where I grew up. In a place where I could call it mine. Most of my family fled to Saudi-Arabia in the time of Hafiz Al-Assad because of Hama and Aleppo massacre. You can say that my chance of going back to Syria was so small until Bashar Al-Assad announced a remission in 2007 for the people who have fled at the time of his father to improve the economy by returning those businessmen to Syria. After I had my first visit to Syria, I felt that nothing could be better than completing my education in Syria. It was a different experience. The transition from a very religious community to a more open-minded one in Syria was shocking for me. The people in Syria don’t like the Islamic mindset of people in Saudi Arabia. It took me a while to get used to the interaction with the opposite sex wherein Saudi-Arabia, we rarely interact with women. The first six months were all about thinking whether I could get used to the change or just go back to where I was raised up. The feeling of having a citizenship and belonging to somewhere where I wasn’t considered a foreigner like in Saudi was a beautiful thing that I had never had the chance to experience it before, so I decided to stay, and I finished my diploma in medical labs.
In the year of the start of the revolution, I went to a private university in Homs to continue my study. I was one of the people who felt the necessity of an uprising and change. I could see that If you wanted to have a position in the government, you had to be in a particular party or to know certain people. I believed that change could be achievable and I also knew I was going to complete studying in Homs. On the 15th of April Homs was covered with checkpoints, which made it so hard to go to my university from where I was living. So I decided to wait for the next semester to start my studies. Until that semester started, the government forces began campaigns of random and limitless arresting. Most of young men were arrested. One of them was my brother in law who was a dentist. He was taken to a branch that was famous for its brutality. I knew I was next because I was also involved in the uprising. What I only could think about was how to get him out of there. I know, in my country everything is solved with money. So I believed I could do something. I went to Damascus to meet some high ranked person in the military. Of course, it wasn’t so easy, I had to pay a lot of money to each of them. I was only thinking of the suffering he was experiencing. I couldn’t sleep. People who were with him and got released contacted us and told us how bad his situation inside prison was. At the same time, I also got news that I was going to be arrested, so I fled to Malaysia. I didn’t know anyone there but my cousin. I didn’t even know English . The culture was different. I felt so lonely and disappointed. I had left my sister alone in Syria waiting for her husband to be released. I thought I had betrayed her so I couldn’t think of myself. After ten long days in Malaysia, my brother in law was fortunately released. I felt a great relief.
I started learning English. In addition to that, my friends and I began to give seminars in mosques and cultural centers about what is happening in Syria to raise awareness about the situation because Malaysians are not involved in the Middle East situation. After precisely eight months the FSA freed many areas, and my friends told me that it was the time to serve our country. There was a lack of essential services in the regions liberated like teachers to teach kids in schools. So I believed I had to go back. I was convinced. The next day I booked my ticket and told my parents and friends to make dua for me. I arrived in Antakya first to pass through Bab al-Hawa to Syria. I will never forget the first experience that I had with a person I met there. As you know, there are people who are pro-Assad in Antakya. When that person knew I was going to Syria, he asked in Arabic why I was going. I said I was going to help people in need. Then he asked “are you against Assad” and I was against Assad, so he said: “I have to kill you”. It was shocking. Anyway, I found another person that got me to Bab-Alhawa. I reached there at 5 am. After you pass the Turkish border, you find yourself vulnerable to anything. It is total darkness, and I had a long way to Aleppo. I kept reminding myself of the reason I left Malaysia for, my comfort zone to a conflict zone, to push away the reluctant ideas in my mind. I had to be in Syria. I found a taxi driver that had connections so he could get me through checkpoints. We started our trip at 6 am. We passed checkpoints of different groups like FSA, the Syrian regime, and Kurdish. Fortunately, none of them noticed that I was coming from Saudi Arabia. If they had noticed I would be done. When I arrived, I posted on social media that I was in Syria, pray for me. My friends from everywhere texted me after this, not only Syrians but from different nationalities, they all wanted to come and help. It was only one picture of refugee camps inside Syria that I posted on social media and motivated them all to help. One of my friends collected 100000 euros of donations from Malaysia in one day. He made a campaign, and I shared with them the footage by skype directly from Syria. I was the first Syrian coming from Malaysia to volunteer in Syria. Then, my work started. I expanded my network of people who wanted to come to help from different countries. I reached almost 20 countries. I was a mediator for people who wanted to donate to people in Syria. I delivered nearly 3.5 million dollars and 35 containers of humanitarian aid. But at the same time, I was hurting that I didn’t continue my study. I was under pressure, and I couldn’t move easily between places.
I founded an NGO that I spend most of my time working in it. In the last two years, we had to open an office in Turkey for better connections. I have a residence permit. I have met so many people here in Turkey. I was honored to meet the previous prime minister Mr. Davutoglu at the international youth gathering. Here I found the opportunity to publish and share our issue, and that is why I consider Turkey the center of the world, rather the Islamic world.
I recently got married. To the woman who I only saw a person who helped out with our cause. Once I was talking to one of my friends about how hard it was getting married for me because of my work in Syria. I was sure nobody would risk their daughter’s life to send them to Syria with me. My friend suddenly said that she knew a woman that her family wouldn’t mind this issue. I told my mom to see the woman first, that is our tradition. I was honest with her father about my situation. That most of my time wasn’t for me but the Syrian struggle. He was a great understanding man. He didn’t ask me anything from me, and he didn’t ask me for a big dowry. He praised my work, and I thank god for granting me such a fantastic wife. I feel that having such a tremendous person in my life is a reward from God.
Our crisis in Syria gave us the opportunity to see how cruel the world is. I invited a friend from Malaysia to come to Syria to see how kids were attending school despite the hard conditions. I used to take people to schools and exhibitions showing kids’ works of art. I gathered those people in my car including my friend and headed toward school where the exhibition was. I heard a rocket hitting somewhere. It is a war zone so I wasn’t surprised. When we were driving to there, I noticed that the smoke was coming out of the school, so I hurried up. When I first arrived at the school, I saw two of my colleagues and friends on the gate of the school. One of them got his head cut and the other I couldn’t recognize his face but his clothes. They used bombs that absorbed oxygen from the body. There were dead children and teachers. I thought it was a nightmare. We never thought that the regime would ever bomb a school. When I got my consciousness back, I took the people with me to a safe place and then went to recognize the corpses. After the funeral, I sat with myself wondering what was going to happen or what more than this could happen. The broadcast channels were full of the news of the massacre, and the French foreign minister condemned that ugly act, but what would that change. More than twenty-three kids died that day. I discovered that the world we live in was a fake wicked world that has no justice. I feel as if justice was forbidden for Syrians. We deserve it like any other person. Why is nobody helping us to change and get our rights back? Syrians escape to find a better place where there is justice. We are praying for Turkey the country that hosted Syrians the most.
