Salute

After Abu Ali has died, Om Ali took over the farm and dedicated her life to her three young kids, she did her best and struggled every day to raise them up. Being illiterate as she hardly could read or write she insisted to educate her kids, and make them real men and women as she always said. Her older daughter became a teacher at the local school in their small town teaching others kids and educating them as best as she can, her other daughter has studied Law and she is practicing it as well, while her son Ali studied medicine at Damascus University and specialized in pediatrics in the United States, and then came back to his lovely town . Till our day now Om Ali still does her usual work at the farm with the help of her sons, she is completely happy and proud of her achievements. There is a lot I can say about Om Ali and alot to learn from her, I love her, she is an example for every successful and struggling women.

In Remembrance

Every year on the 24th of July, al-azmeh family, some members from Friends of Damascus Association and some other people commemorate on the anniversary of Maysaloun Battle and its hero Yossef al-Azmeh who was martyred with his fellows defending the homeland.
Starting with a recitation of some extracts form the holy Qurran, then some speeches are delivered hailing the heroic deeds and sacrifices of al-Azmeh and his fellows in the battle, poetic anthologies, and finally laying some wreaths they all recite the Syrian anthem.

Hallucinations

Hidden Misery

-Behind these innocent laughs hide nothing but a miserable life, O Qassioun, what a miserable life do u hold and shade!

-I wasn’t surprised to see such houses and homes up there, I really expected to watch the worst! Poverty and poor are everywhere here…

Unknown Future

"DAMASCUS, 11 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - Poverty at a national level is decreasing in Syria, with close to a three percent drop, according to a new report.Latest statistics show that the poverty level fell from 14.3 percent in 1996 to 11.4 percent in 2004. "

Marriage

A perfect kind of unity!

Death and life in one!

Legend of Abel

View of the total place

We all have heard the very well known legend of the two sons of Adam, Cain and Abel, as this legend is shared between many religions, it is when Cain slew his brother Abel, Cain having committed the fratricide, became exceedingly troubled in his mind and carried the dead body not knowing where to conceal it, so then Allah taught him to bury it by the example of a crow, who, scratched in the earth and show him how he might bury his brother.

The shrine form the outside But what you might don’t know that it is claimed by some people that he is buried in Syria exactly at the heights of west mountains of Damascus, near the Zabadani Valley, overlooking villages of Wadi Barada.

I went there nearly about four times, but what surprises me; is that every time I go there I find the shrine is getting larger and larger, I still can remember that it was a simple wooden tomb, nearly about 6-7 meters in length covered by a green rag, placed in a small room divided by a wall separating the room into two parts one for women and other for men.This year it seems that claimed Abel became lucky enough so he got a larger marble magnificent shrine, and for not to be left alone on the top of the mountain, many rooms were built for those who made vows to God, so they can sleep there and be close to Abel.

A lot of visitors had found a way there, you can find hundreds of them heading toward this holy so called place, a kind of pilgrimage in the hopes of divine intercession! what bothers me the most is that a lot of mistakes is done there by the name of Islam although other religious sects rather than Muslims are also present there practicing their weird own rituals, but for a foreigners they might think it Islam, while in fact it has nothing to do with it. Islam clearly affirms that visiting graves is permissible for the purpose of being admonished by remembering death and the Hereafter. No asking for dead intercessions or wailing, laminating, clutching and touching the grave, As it is only a piece of a stone no more! I wonder if Abel is really buried there, why didn’t our ancestors care about him or build him a respectable shrine? and what surprises me more; I’ve heard that he is buried in many other countries as for example, Turkey! So I don’t know!

A man kissing the tomb as a kind of blessing!

It is for making wishes!

What is distinct there that all visitors place there hands on the top of the tomb and then turn around it not lifting their hand from it!

Striving For Life

To live in this world isn’t an easy task… this family is originally from Alraqqa, east of Syria, they move from place to place just to work in agriculture to earn their lives, so after they ingather the harvest they move taking their simple house tent with them, but no more extra stuffs. Life isn’t easy at all!

Qal'at Saladin

Named after the great hero Saladin in commemoration to the capture of the fortress in 1188 in what is noted as one of his most successful military campaigns. Qal’at Saladin is 52 KM. east of Latakia stands on a rocky mountainside with massive walls that rise high above the fork of two flowing streams creating a grandiose presence amongst the surrounding forested landscape. While the site was probably first settled during Phoenician times in the first millennium BC, the bulk of what survives today is from the early 12th century, Succeeding Ayyubid and Mamluk administrations developed a palace, mosque, baths, cistern and a madrasa in the heart of the site. The castle was previously known as Sahone Castle or Chateau Saone, but the name changed when Saladin took it.

Be Great

Everybody can be great...

because anybody can serve.

You don't have to have a college degree to serve.

You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.

You only need a heart full of grace.

A soul generated by love.

Martin Luther King