This is an article I wrote last August about Syria. I wrote this to spread awareness about what is going on in Syria, and what happened in Hama in 1982. The story of what happened in 1982 is my father's.
- Amal
This article is in honor of the lives lost in 1982 and in these past few months in all of Syria.
There's that unspoken rule that says: children are not supposed to see their parents cry. That rule has been broken. I came home one night and found my mom on the phone crying. In these times, when you see your mother in that situation, your blood runs cold. You instanatly know something bad has happened. I went over to her and hugged her. When she had calmed down, she said it is happening again. The tanks have entered Hama. 1982 all over again.
Here is what happened in 1982:
The president at that time was Hafez Al-Assad, Bashar's dad. Hafez got news that people in Hama were talking bad about the government, saying it was wrong and un-Islamic. One day in February, the tanks appeared. They destroyed anything in sight, shooting randomly at buildings and killing anyone or anything that gets in their way. This went on for 20 days, people trapped in their homes. Then, one day, they all left. The tanks, the soldiers, everyone. They left and left behind 40,000 dead, thousands of orphans and thousands homeless.
My dad was sixteen years old at that time. He was studying for the big Bakaloria exam. In Syria, it is the exam they take senior year that basically determines their futures. For example, getting the highest scores means you can be a doctor. Second highest, dentist. Third highest, engineer. And it goes down from there. People begin to study for these about two years before.
So when the massacre began, my dad stayed inside with my grandma, grandpa, and my uncles and aunt. One day, the soldiers barged in. They randomly grabbed my dad, and three of his brothers. They took them out to the square and forced them to their knees. They put a gun to their heads. My dad thought it was all over. I once asked him what he was thinking about then, the moment he thought his life was going to end. He said: "I was worrying about my parents, hating the regime, and praying for forgiveness."
16 and thinking you were about to die.
Luckily, the soldiers decided that they were innocent and sent them back home. But they are not that merciful. They randomly took one of my uncles with them to torture him for information he did not have.
My house in Syria is around the corner from one of those places, the places where they torture people. It is scary driving by there, the soldiers that guard it with machine guns stare at you with that disgusting look they have.
My father said that he once knew a man, who was taken to be tortured for information that he also did not have. They tortured him in so many different ways, but he never cried out in pain. Eventually, they noticed he was innocent. But they still did not let him go. They said: "just cry out once, and we will let you free." He never did. Eventually they got bored with him, and sent it home, tortured and bloody.
After those horrible 20 days of the Hama Massacre, after everyone left, no one in the world said anything. The U.S. did not do anything. It was as if Hama was not left bleeding by the regime. This time, it will not be the same. People know. News spreads faster. They wont get away with it this time.
My dad said, after it all happened, they were left with thousands of orphans and homeless people. If this were to happen here, the people would leave them for the care of the government. It was not like that in Hama. The people came together; as my father described it, as a family. They fed, clothed, and raised the orphans. They worked together to shelter the homeless.
Now, Hama is one family again. Everyone caring for each other.
Hama used to have a bazaar just like the one in Damascus, just like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. The government bombed the one in Hama along with the people in it.
They are murderous. Going for the kill just because Assad refuses to step down.
They have cut off the water, electricity, and phone lines in Hama. You do not even know if your neighbor next door is alive. Their refrigerated foods are going bad. It's Ramadan, and they do not even have bread or water to break their fasts. The diesel generators in hospitals are out of diesel, and the government refuses to supply more. Due to that, infants in incubators are dying.
Imgaine being a mother or father, excited about your newborn child. You cannot wait to see them grow up, go off to college, get married and have your grandchildren. Then you realize that will never happen. Why? Because your baby has been murdered by a monstrous regime.
As we sit here, there are young girls, my age, being raped by mulitple men at the same time in front of their own fathers. They cry out for help, but their fathers cannot do anything because then they would both be killed. I would rather be shot dead than go through what those girls are going/went through.
I feel like I'm trapped inside of a glass box; seeing everything, but unable to do anything.
Pray for Syria. They deserve what we take for granted; freedom.
No comments:
Post a Comment