Afraa’s Story: Through For Sama our voice has finally reached people

So many of our colleagues and friends, who were such a big part of our lives, were also a big part of For Sama. We want to share some familiar faces from the film with you: where they are now, their memories of Aleppo and what they hope For Sama can share to the world about Syria. 

Here’s Afraa’s story...

My name is Afraa, I’m 38 years old and I live in Gaziantep. I used to work in the education sector before the revolution, and I currently work in the protection of women and children for an NGO.

In Aleppo, I participated in the peaceful movement. After Aleppo went out of the Assad regime’s control, I decided to stay in order to provide any kind of help to the people, in particular the children. I participated in opening a series of schools in Aleppo. I was an education supervisor for a group of schools and I also worked in the field of psychosocial support. I did a lot of other volunteer positions, too, for example organising parties and activities for children like coloring the “Freedom bus” as well as graffiting on walls and establishing a theatre team for children, writing plays and training them how to act on the theatre stage. 

I was a part of the family you saw in the film, which represents everything I adore in the world. This family eases my pain and my loss. 

For me, the film is our eyes which witnessed all kinds of horror, sorrow, fear, joy, resilience, and optimism we felt in Aleppo. The film is what’s left of the memory of Aleppo, through the film we still remember what our homes and the streets used to look like, and if someday I lose my memory and become sick of Alzheimer's, my children will show me the film so I can watch myself, my family, and all the things I love. 

I received a lot of positive messages, and a lot of questions like, “How can you still laugh and smile despite everything you went through?”

The most overwhelming message I received was when someone told me “I can’t stop thinking about you”. Our voice has finally reached people and explained that we’re normal people, we love, we laugh, we sing and colour. We just need a little safety, dignity, freedom, and a small land to shelter us.

My wish for the people who watched the film is that they try to stop the bloodshed in Syria, help prevent another forced displacement from taking place, and support our right to a volunteered and safe return, which can’t happen while this regime is still in power. 

I also want people to know that people of Idlib are now being subjected to the same suffering  you saw in the film, I want you to imagine that it might have been me there now, still suffering. Idlib became home to a lot of previously displaced people from all around Syria, and it would be an outrageous crime if they were to be forcibly displaced again.