Join Waad al-Kateab - Ask Your MP to #WatchForsama and Act for Syria

Header image credit: Stylist Magazine

My name is Waad al-Kateab and Aleppo was my city. In 2011 when the revolution started, we were afraid to be arrested for even thinking about our freedom, but I took my phone and I started to film. I filmed the women and children and people all around me. I filmed the destruction by the Russian and Assad regime bombings that we saw every day, and I filmed because I knew I had to document what was happening there.

When the regime took control of Aleppo we felt so angry and my heart broke for the city and my people. We were forced to flee to nearby Idlib to find safety. I was lucky that I was able to get out and reach the UK with my family, but 3.5 million people who stayed in Idlib are not this lucky.

I know that all of us are facing uncertain times right now and I understand this is very difficult. But we also need to remember that people in Idlib are still suffering - people who we shared our dream of freedom with. Hospitals, schools, and civil defence teams have been deliberately targeted. A million people have been forced to flee their homes since December into overstretched displacement camps.

The Syrian people feel they have been abandoned by the world - by governments that have the power to do so much, yet do nothing.

On the 9th anniversary of the Syrian revolution, I want British MPs to take just 90 minutes to watch my film, so they experience what life is like for Syrians under attack and act to protect civilians in Idlib today.

Please, will you join me and ask your MP to watch For Sama and act for Syria?

I made my film for my daughter, Sama, so she would understand what we were fighting for. Now we must make sure every single MP does too.

Thank you so much,
Waad x