Skyping with Damascus

 Last night I skyped with my friend in Damascus, Areen!  I am so excited I got to talk to her! Last time I heard from her, a few months ago, I got a message that she couldn't move and was bed-ridden.  I asked her what had happened. She said she was on her way to Tartus, Syria on business and got in a bad car accident. This happened in March and she was bed-ridden for 3 months with a broken collar bone, back and leg. I can't imagine being in that kind of condition in the middle of a war zone. She got some medical help but was mostly nursed back to health by her mother since medicine and hospitals in Syria are almost non-existent. You would never know it by looking at her now. Of course she wasn't walking around while I was skyping her but she looked amazing! She had eye make-up on and her brunette hair looked washed and lovely flowing down her back as she flipped it from side to side looking a bit worried about how she looked.

Areen is very thin but an incredibly strong woman. I could just feel her strength and determination while we chatted. She has been through so much enduring six years of war! I have been praying for her constantly as well as friends of mine too.  She talked about how she has really felt an extra power or strength within her  many times that she knows is not her. She said she always thinks to herself, "is Joyce and her friends praying for me again?" We both cried when she said that. I told her I felt so helpless that there was nothing else literally I could do for her but pray and fast for her. She called me her sister and she is mine.

I got to see her mother again and her two sons 12 and 14. She got to meet Sammy and Alex (Sadie and Abby were in bed). Her mother remembered me going to her house for a meal with a bunch of my friends and Areen back in 2000. The memory is a bit fuzzy for me (there were too many big meals and too many houses with tables full of lovely middle eastern food) but I believe her. It was such a nice reunion!

Areen used to live on the northwestern outskirts of Damascus in an area called Qudsaya where her home was damaged from nearby bombs a couple of times. However, she recently moved to the centre of Damascus because it is safer. Qudsaya was too dangerous especially now with the Russians bombing. She also recently got a new job with a development network and is very happy about it. She said it is an opportunity sent from God for her. She has been able to improve her English a lot because of it. She has to send reports in English to a manager in Brussels.  There is a chance she could get transferred out of Syria to another office somewhere in the next year or two. I hope that happens.

She spoke about not going out after 5pm at night and when she does go out her boys are never allowed to be alone. There are gangs of thugs who will take people and you will never see them again. I don't know how she has managed all this time. Her husband fled to Egypt a few years ago to escape the military draft. It is a miracle that she has been able to be protected and been able to protect those boys. However , I fear for her boys especially as they are getting older. I hope she can get out of Syria in the next few years. Her boys go to school still most days. She said they have to because they don't want to put off their schooling for years. There is no end in sight for this war. One of her boys was making animal shadows with his hands on the wall behind her while we talked and Alex and Sammy were laughing at them. She said that there is plenty of food in the markets but the prices for food is very high. People can hardly afford it. 

She was sitting in a very empty room on what appeared to be crates or something. There were blank cement walls behind her and a cement floor (though I could not see the floor very well).  It seemed to be lit by a lamp or two. Her mother is looking very old but had a lovely smile and warm greeting for me. I felt very self conscious as I sat in my big leather chair with shelves of books and clutter behind me. At one point, Alex wanted something to eat and I was embarrassed for her to hear that. She talked about how she wished to be transferred or somehow get to England. I thought to myself for a second, if she was, what would I do? Then I immediately started rearranging my house in my mind so that she could stay here if her boys, mother and her needed to. I would bring them right in to my house and take care of them until they could get a place of their own. What really helped me have further peace of mind is when I asked Charles about the scenario and he didn't hesitate in the least about bringing them into our house and helping them. I wish I could do that for her.

Every time I saw Areen in Damascus she was wearing a hijab even when there were only women around. This time, on Skype, she was not wearing it. I wondered if she has decided against it. It doesn't really matter but I am curious. I am sure she still covers up a lot when going out so as not to draw any undue attention to herself. 

At one point in the conversation, she asked me what I was currently reading. She knows I am a bit of a reader. I hesitated a bit at first but told her I am currently reading a book about the daughter of Saddam Hussein's private pilot and her life under Saddam. She laughed and said that she could not read things like that. They were too political and emotional. She was reading about Sufism because it was about dreaming and pondering and lighter things. I can completely understand.

After speaking to her, I could not stop thinking about her and as I thought I would, I dreamed about being in Syria last night right there with her in the middle of a war. It was terrifying. There is no end in sight for this conflict. It has become too complicated. The country of Syria as we knew it, no longer exists and who knows what will come out of it.  I just wish that innocent people like my friend Areen and her family didn't have to suffer so much and live in such awful circumstances through it all.