Recounts from a Syrian American

To preserve a memory from being extinguished, it must constantly be sparked. When a culture has lost its state of unity, it is essential that we all become carriers of our traditions and share these keepsakes with our children and our children’s children.

Currently, over 220,000 people have been killed by the full-blown Syrian conflict, a majority of who are civilians. Bombings and air raids have destroyed crowded cities and reduced them to a mere pile of rubble. Basic human needs of food and medical care are sparse.

According to the UN, 7.6 million people are internally displaced- an increase of more than three million in just one year. More than half of the country’s original population of 23 million is in need of urgent humanitarian aid whether they have escaped as refugees or remain in the country.

Even though I only visited my parents’ homeland, Syria, once as a child, I am also affected by this conflict though I may not be as deeply injured as my parents who constantly reminisce about their memories from childhood to graduation. I always hear about how they listened to Firouz songs in the morning, inhaled the fresh scent of Turkish coffee mixed with sweet jasmine and orange a blossom, or awoke to the dripping of the water fountain in the courtyard. Now that Ramadan is here, they remember the voice ‘musaher’ or man in charge of waking up the community for suhur with the beating of his drum. Unfortunately, I probably will not get the opportunity to share my parents’ experiences and trace back to my origins.

Unless grotesque news of a bombing or of a child’s death appears on television, Syria is on the backburner of our minds- for some it has a greater presence than others. Since I only have a second hand connection to the country, news of Syria has an almost unreal, artificial feeling to them, as if the events are not really happening.

It saddens me to realize that the fragments of such a rich culture remain with the previous generation and is prone to be lost with the dispersion and assimilation of Syrian people in other countries. They are burdened with the immense responsibility of ensuring that they pass down the customs of their home country. Likewise, this generation has to be willing to listen to these stories and not dismiss them as irrelevant history.

My heart goes out to all families struggling to overcome this conflict- whether they are currently in Syria, have migrated as refugees, or constantly have their heart strings pulled by fear they have for people left in the war torn area.