Young Syrians come of age in a decade of conflict
Published: 10:05 PM,May 25,2021 | EDITED : 10:05 PM,May 25,2021
Ghenwa, 20, a trainee flight attendant, poses for a photograph
in her room in Damascus. — Reuters
DAMASCUS: Trainee flight attendant Ghenwa, engineering student Ali and electronic music DJ Jawad are among a generation of young Syrians to have come of age during the war.
They live in the capital Damascus, which was spared the intense bombing raids that destroyed opposition bastions such as Aleppo but life for the twenty-somethings is far from normal.
A decade of conflict, Western sanctions, a financial collapse in next-door Lebanon, and now, the global pandemic, have battered Syria’s economy and a currency crash has sparked shortages of essential goods like wheat and fuel in government territory.
Economic hardships aside, their access to the rest of the world has also been severely curtailed, leaving them little chance of leaving the country for work or leisure. The freedom to travel was the main reason Ghenwa decided to train as an air hostess, having dropped out of university where she was studying architecture.
“I’m Syrian and I can’t travel at the moment except through this opportunity,” said Ghenwa, who like the others who spoke to Reuters for this story used only her first name for security reasons.
“It’s the only opportunity that makes me feel I can move faster ... to feel the freedom of borders.”
Away from her hometown, Sweida in southern Syria, Ghenwa has had to work multiple jobs to support herself, doing everything from working with children with cancer to modelling.
She finds a sense of release with her friends who share a passion for electronic music.
“We are hungry for happiness,” said 24-year-old Jawad, an electronic music DJ who returned in 2019 to a Syria he barely recognised, after spending the war years in Dubai for safety.
They live in the capital Damascus, which was spared the intense bombing raids that destroyed opposition bastions such as Aleppo but life for the twenty-somethings is far from normal.
A decade of conflict, Western sanctions, a financial collapse in next-door Lebanon, and now, the global pandemic, have battered Syria’s economy and a currency crash has sparked shortages of essential goods like wheat and fuel in government territory.
Economic hardships aside, their access to the rest of the world has also been severely curtailed, leaving them little chance of leaving the country for work or leisure. The freedom to travel was the main reason Ghenwa decided to train as an air hostess, having dropped out of university where she was studying architecture.
“I’m Syrian and I can’t travel at the moment except through this opportunity,” said Ghenwa, who like the others who spoke to Reuters for this story used only her first name for security reasons.
“It’s the only opportunity that makes me feel I can move faster ... to feel the freedom of borders.”
Away from her hometown, Sweida in southern Syria, Ghenwa has had to work multiple jobs to support herself, doing everything from working with children with cancer to modelling.
She finds a sense of release with her friends who share a passion for electronic music.
“We are hungry for happiness,” said 24-year-old Jawad, an electronic music DJ who returned in 2019 to a Syria he barely recognised, after spending the war years in Dubai for safety.