Achieving My Dream of Learning English
I tried for a long time to persuade my parents to let me study English. But the community in which I lived still clung...
He Refused to Say “Bashar”
It was Sunday, July 31, 2011, and we were preparing to welcome the month of Ramadan. My son Radwan had high hopes that the...
A Friendship Torn Apart
Wearing the dress my friend bought me, I pick up my phone and select her name, but do not dial her number. I log...
Signs and Wonders in a Damascus Prison
I never used to believe in signs and superstitions. I tended to rely on scientific explanations for what happened in my life, so it...
Never Giving Up
“We tend not to express our pain,” said Sarah. “We were raised to think that such behavior would make us look weak and pitiful.”Sarah...
A Personal Grievance Against the Regime
I announced my support for the revolution from the first day it started. Back then, a lot of people were still confused and in...
My Mother, The Accidental Activist
My mother is in her late forties, and she can’t read or write. She has been attending literacy classes for the past ten years,...
Life or Death a Matter of Luck in Damascus
It’s three in the afternoon on a February day in 2015. My mobile phone rings in my bag. It’s my mother calling. “Where...
My Disappointment
In mid-March 2017, new confrontations began between Assad’s forces and the free army a number of areas around Damascus. Those were difficult days for...
Memories of a Dark Night
Night had fallen, but silence peace did not accompany it. The rumbling of tanks was growing louder, and flashes of light punctuated the darkness...
Damascus, Divided by War
Four years have passed since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, and Damascus and its environs remain divided. Neither government nor opposition has achieved...
A Ghost City Full of Painful Memories
On the afternoon of May 24, 2013, the weather was beautiful and the smell of the wonderful jasmine which grows in Damascus filled the...
Damascus Water Crisis Continues
Um Ahmed, a 45 year-old resident of the Bab al-Sarija area in Damascus, says it is a daily struggle to find fresh water. Her...
At the Mercy of A Sniper
As I stepped out of my house in Jisr al-Abyad neighbourhood early in the morning of June 17, 2012, I felt light with optimism....
Humiliated for a Bag of Bread
Until Syrian government forces placed Ghouta under siege towards the end of 2013, it was still possible to travel there by bus from Damascus....
