Here is the story of Mazhar Daghmash (aka Abu Abdo), a Syrian man in his 50s, who sold one of his houses to launch an initiative for rehabilitating a school that was damaged by terrorism in his town of Al-Maleiha in Al-Ghouta of Damascus Countryside. Abu Abdo's initiative is part of the local community's contribution to the government's efforts to rehabilitate terrorism-affected schools.

After the liberation of Al- Ghouta from the terrorist groups by the Syrian Arab Army in 2018, Abu Abdo went to his town to check what the terrorists had done. The heartbreaking images of destruction in the school as well as the burned books and black walls urged him to work hard in cooperation with the local community in the town with the aim of restoring life to the school.

Although restoration and rehabilitation of damaged schools is still continuing, students of Eastern Ghouta towns have returned to their schools, a scene that terrorism tried to hinder for years.

The terrorists ’crimes in the town before its liberation did not prevent the teachers from bringing in the Ministry’s books and teaching its curricula. Despite the risks they were exposed to, they insisted on continuing their work and fulfilling their mission.

The assistant director of Al-Mlaiha Secondary School for Girls, Maysa Al-Adamah, told SANA that after the liberation of Ghouta, thanks to the Syrian Arab Army, the teachers encouraged their colleagues to return as soon as possible to their schools.

The terrorist war, the inhumane conditions and dark thoughts it carried have put Syrian women in difficult situations, perhaps the most prominent of which is the loss or absence of a husband, the proof of children’s lineage and so forcing her to marry with invalid contracts.  The legislator has been quick to find solutions to these challenges. So that this year , the Syrian woman celebrates her World Day with new rights and gains that are specifically included in Law No. 4 for 2019 to amend some articles of the Personal Status Law.

During the terrorist war on Syria, many Syrian women lost their husbands as martyrs and had to face a difficult life alone, yet they never surrendered. On the contrary, they weaved success stories that reflected their steadfastness and strong will to face the exhausting absence of their husbands and to rise from their grief and pain to continue bringing up their children with pride in their father’s martyrdom.

After the martyrdom of her husband Abdo Yacoub Al-Ahmar, Wardeh Al-Shabou’, a Syrian lady from Homs, shouldered the responsibility of bringing up three children alone and became the breadwinner of her family.

Wardeh didn’t surrender to the hard circumstances, particularly as she got support from the local community around her and thus she managed to launch a small business at her house and start to sell cotton clothes to get an income. Within two years, Wardeh’s income increased and she was able to save some money to build a shop near her house which greatly improved her economic condition and made her feel better and stronger.

“Life needs a lot of strength and patience to overcome its difficulties and to maintain a state of cohesion and solidarity within the family,” Wardeh told SANA.

The key role of art in confronting the cultural invasion and Western plans to spread  the ideas of modern liberalism within our societies in order to separate them from their identity and heritage were the main axes  of  the lecture delivered by  Head of  Syrian Artists Syndicate   Zuhair Ramadan at the Arab  Cultural Center in Abu Rummaneh.

During the lecture, which was held within a series of symposiums  to combat cultural invasion,  Ramadan underlined  that the means followed by the United States and those who support it in the conspiracy against the Arab nation in general and Syria in particular adopted the policy of  cultural invasion and misleading media  with the aim of penetrating the peoples of the region with strange ideas that would weaken the forces of confrontation  to coexist with the occupation of their land and the ongoing crimes of the Zionist occupation.

Head of Syrian Artists Syndicate emphasized that the forces of aggression against the region had failed in their attempts to influence Syrian national unity .This made these forces change tactics and target Syrian drama.

Ramadan affirmed that the richness and influential diversity provided by the Syrian drama through our dramatic works has had an effective role for decades in defending our rights and calling to resist the enemy. 

 The poet and journalist Muhammad Khaled Al-Khader, who directed the symposium, called for confronting all that threatens the homeland culturally, noting the artists’ stands that reject aggression on the region and the war on Syria.

A number of schools and educational facilities in Daraa are witnessing an initiative to beautify these buildings by drawing paintings bearing ideas of an educational and indicative nature.

The initiative was launched by the Syriac “Mar Ephrem” organization, Daraa branch. The initiative began, according to its supervisor  plastic artist Saad Shawky, from Daraa Girls School and moved to Daraa Colleges building. The  next stages will include facilities, schools and directorates concerned with the educational and university sector.

Shawky emphasized that the initiative aims at redecorating  universities and schools by drawing instructional paintings and at the same time encouraging work and studying for a better future, pointing out that the initiative will continue until filling the empty spaces in educational facilities.

The participants expressed their happiness with this awareness-raising initiative, underlining the importance of expanding participation to fill the empty spaces in educational facilities with artistic and instructional paintings.

Inas Abdulkareem

Homs, (ST) - With the aim of providing medicine to the poorest and most needy patients, as well as promoting the positive role of youth towards their society, the National Union of Syrian Students branch at Al-Wadi International University in Homs launched an initiative to distribute the medicine free of charge in the Al-Adawiya neighborhood in Homs.

Dr. Bashir Elias, President of Al-Wadi International Private University, told SANA that this initiative is not the first for the Student Union branch at the university, as it was preceded by an initiative to distribute clothes to the needy in Homs.

He pointed out the importance of these initiatives in linking the university to the community by providing the requirements of certain segments of society, whose economic conditions prevent them from obtaining their basic needs.

Ghadeer Bashir, head of the Students' Union branch at Al-Wadi University, indicated that the Student Union branch's activities are divided into two parts, the first deals with student issues, while the second part engages with community responses.

Bashir went on to say that the donations for the initiative, which will be transferred to Tartous later on, have been collected from drug factories, warehouses, laboratory representatives and doctors, to be presented free of charge under a prescription to the needy. He stressed the importance of these initiatives in promoting the positive role of youth towards their society to alleviate the suffering of some needy segments, especially in light of the current economic conditions.

Dr. Majd Lyos, a human resources officer in a pharmaceutical company, said, "We would love to be part of this initiative that helps people who have difficulty securing medicines due to their high expense."

Lyos stressed the importance of supporting these initiatives to include all chronic disease drugs, as patients have difficulty obtaining them, explaining that the currently available assortment within this initiative is good and includes all types of antihypertensive drugs, lipid depressants, neurological, orthopedic and digestive drugs.

Doctor, Ali Al-Ahmad (a volunteer), stressed the importance of these initiatives that contribute to alleviating the suffering of patients, especially in light of the lack of some types of medicines due to the unjust economic blockade imposed on Syria and the high cost of medicines.

He explained that there was coordination with the Al-Basel Specialized Center in Karm Al Lawz to give prescriptions to those who do not have prescriptions in order to increase the number of beneficiaries of this initiative.

About 70 university students in addition to 20 volunteering doctors and pharmacists participate in the 2-day initiative.

Amal Farhat