With the aim of reviving cultural movement , the Junior International  Chamber ( JCI)  in Lattakia  has launched its new project, " Rising  Star", which opens the way for young people to present  their talents in the fields of painting, music, dance, singing, acting, sports, literature and mathematics..

The project, which is being held in cooperation with the Damascus Opera House, De Marketing Lines  Marketing Company,   Gimni  Active Studio and a number of Syrian artists , depends on a voting mechanism on  social media  in addition to the audience's interaction on  the contestants' private pages.

The revival of contemporary science  in Syria  is due to   a number of leading Syrian  intellectual  and academic figures , most prominent of whom is  doctor Rida Saeed Al-Itouni ( 1876-1945) who  was born to a Damascene family..

Dr.Saeed  was the founder of the  Arab Health   Institute,   the first president of the Syrian University  and   one of the first ophthalmologists in Damascus. 

In addition to his work in a number of foreign capitals, Dr. Saeed chaired  the medical department at Al- Hijaz railway  station  and was responsible for the health of tens of thousands of passengers who were traveling by  this route. 

Upon the liberation of Syria from  the Ottoman occupation, Dr.  Saeed chaired  the mini-committee of Syrian doctors and  opened  the Institute of Arab Health  in  Baramkeh region in 1919 in addition to Arabization of the  curricula used in it .This was done in cooperation  with  a number of intellectual and patriotic figures. 

When Saeed  was  Dean  of the Institute of Arab  Health , he searched for Syrian doctors  to teach students who later supervised   about forty students in the first year in the institution.

With the aim of marketing his unique artworks, Ahmed Al-Admi has chosen the corniche in the city of Tartous to display his artworks which are made of seashells so that the largest number of Corniche visitors can see them.

Ahmed’s house near the sea has created a distinguished warm relationship between Ahmed and the sea which motivated him to transform seashells into stunning works of art such as decorative vessels, tissue boxes and mirror frames with the formation of letters on wooden bases in addition to decorative accessories and some pieces used in the house after obtaining the seashells with his own effort or buying them from fishermen who are able to get strange shaped seashells different from those on the beach.

Al-Admi told SANA that he has been practicing this craft for about eight years without learning it from anyone. This craft, according to Al-Admi, requires precision, patience, love of work and the desire to make something different.

He explained the process of making those artworks including sterilizing and cleaning seashells after they were brought from the sea and then choosing the appropriate form, pointing to benefiting from the experience of plastic artists to innovate new ideas in addition to carpenters to make wooden bases to match each piece.

Because each seashell has its own shape, Al-Admi deliberately left the shells of large and distinct shapes as they are, so after cleaning them, he painted them with lacquer to give them a special shine and keep their quality as long as possible, in addition to the embalming process of the sea star, which is a pure masterpiece that gives the house a special natural beauty .

He indicated that despite the difficult circumstances and the weak purchasing power, the sales movement is good, especially on holidays due to visitors from outside the governorate..

Despite the little profit of each piece, Al-Admi is always happy as soon as people stand in front of his products, expressing admiration for their beauty, which gives him an impetus to continue working and creating new ideas.

"the sea gives us a lot of imagination and offers us its benefits. we must use them properly” Al-Admi concluded.

Rawaa Ghanam   

A Syrian young man Anas Abbas has inherited the secret of the craftsmanship from his father, who used to bring him to his shop for manufacturing perfumes from a young age..

Despite his help in the daily work at the shop which was steeped in all kinds of fine smells, the ambitious young man Abbas did not stop at manufacturing and selling perfumes, but rather developed the distinguished skills he has acquired over the years in the ability to manufacture a new scent of his own, which soon brought him into the Guinness World Records.

The real change in the life of the twenty-year-old man came after he won the third place in a perfume manufacturing competition in Lebanon in 2014, where he managed to outperform ninety competitors from different countries of the world by manufacturing new perfumes with oriental ingredients, the most prominent of which was a unique perfume which he called “Damascus fragrant jasmine.” It is based on vanilla and jasmine.

Abbas told SANA “My perfume was able to achieve a wide reputation after its spread inside Syria and abroad.

It reached the French perfume capital, Grasse, under which I obtained membership at perfume committees there.

"Damascus fragrant Jasmine" perfume spread in several Asian and European countries, which encouraged me to register it in the Guinness World Records under the membership No. 144267

The unique fragrance, as described by the ambitious young man, took a whole year to manufacture. It is based on jasmine and vanilla and changes its scent every five minutes. Big quantities of this perfume were sold in Europe, Asia and China.

Abbas expressed his happiness with the support and love of the Syrians for what he has accomplished, stressing the Syrian youths’ creativity in all fields, wishing that he would continue to raise the flag of his country in various international forums…

It is noteworthy that Anas Abbas is a student at the Faculty of Mass Communication at Damascus University.

Rawaa Ghanam

 Documentation represents different forms including the academic specialization and individual hobby. The experience of the young woman Dr. Noor Al-Hamidi, combined the two forms in one of the most beautiful classic hobbies embodied by collecting Syrian currency denominations.

Dr. Al-Hamidi belongs to a high-qualified generation that is interested in the field of computer, internet and mobile technologies.

The family planting project, which was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform four  years ago in a number of provinces , is one of the pioneering projects in support of poor families through achieving self-sufficiency of summer and winter vegetables and selling surplus ones in the local market. For many rural families, the family planting project is  a new outlet  to face the current difficult circumstances including  high prices and  unjust economic measures imposed on Syria  in addition  to improving the standard of living of  poor and war-affected families  with the aim of planting the land and investing it in a way that restores life to the land and farmers.

In Damascus countryside SANA correspondent met a number of beneficiary families of the project which contributes to ensure their families’ needs of vegetables , improve their financial conditions , encourage them to grow their gardens continuously and provide them with a chance to know the appropriate steps of the cultivation process. 

Rashid Baqdones is  one of the founders of  the Arab Academy of   Damascus  and a prominent resistance figure who opposed the Ottoman and French occupations combining the glory of knowledge and the greatness of resistance.

In documenting the life of this militant and intellectual, the Damascus History Foundation has published on the pages of the global Wikipedia site  his biography documented with pictures and information.

The Damascus History Foundation  indicated  that   Bqdones was born in the Salihiya quarter  of Damascus in 1875. In 1913, a group of Syrian citizens participated in the founding of the “Al-Ahed”  Association, which called for the independence of the Arab countries from the Ottoman occupation and sought to publish National awareness among Arab youths  until the secret of its activity became public, and the Ottoman occupation authorities dissolved it. 

The resistance fighter Baqdones , who witnessed  the crimes  carried out by  the Ottoman occupation against  the Arabs   and spreading disorder  during his military service, joined in 1916  Sharif Hussein’s  forces against the Ottoman occupation army.