One afternoon, I managed to sneak away to see the Krak des Chevaliers. This medieval castle used to be a big tourist destination. I’d met some people in Jordan a couple of years ago who told me that it was absolutely stunning.
We were delivering sheep to farmers in rural Homs who were returning to their land. We gave out 1,000 sheep in the space of a week – two pregnant sheep for each farmer. In most cases it was nothing compared with what they’d had before the conflict, but the farmers were still pleased. I spoke to one woman who was setting up a women’s collective; they’d just had the olive harvest and were excited about starting work and selling the oil again.
The castle was nearby, so while we were waiting for the sheep to arrive I walked up to see it. It was magnificent. It was built in the 12th century by the Kurds who were settled in the region, and then taken over by the Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades. Somehow it has remained standing for all these years. T E Lawrence called it “the most admirable castle in the world”. It’s imposing and beautiful.
When I got back to sheep duty (which also involved chasing and wrestling an escaping sheep), I mentioned the castle, and one of the local men said “Aha!” and disappeared off into his home and then came back waving a CD-Rom about it for me. Turned out he used to be a tour guide, way back before the conflict started.
Flying direct to Syria isn’t recommended at the moment, so I landed in Lebanon and then drove from Beirut. On a good day it only takes about 90 minutes, and you don’t normally get delayed going into Syria; it’s going out where the queues form.
It’s odd in Damascus. Yes, the war is going on, but you can also go out for a meal, go to a concert. There is actually some degree of normality. And there are people moving back too. That makes a complicated message to get across.
I was there to run communications training and support the volunteers who make up the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC). Comms is important because it needs to be understood that we’re neutral and impartial. In conflict it’s easy for rumours to spread, and incredibly dangerous.
Take one example – SARC was going to an area controlled by two different armed groups, and on the Tuesday we went to deliver aid to one part of the area. Then we began to get messages on our Facebook page saying there were rumours that we were only helping one group and not the other. You have to clear these things up very quickly, because it can cause tension, it can lead to delays at checkpoints. If you get comms right, you can help increase funding, understanding, access. If you get it wrong, it’s the opposite.
There are visible changes since I was there two years ago. The centre of Damascus is generally calmer. There are some new businesses being set up. People are returning to set up restaurants, sandwich bars. But there are also lots of closed businesses.
You can see that the years of war have tired people out. I asked one person how their weekend was, and they told me – laughing – that they’d had to move for the sixth time that year. You can see the worry, the exhaustion, on people’s faces. But they still have a sense of humour. In one place with electricity for an hour a day, they were joking about how pleased they are when they eventually get the chance to do some washing.
You see the oddest things. I took a photograph where the building on the right was pockmarked and riddled with bullet holes while the building to the left had been rebuilt and was gleaming new. It was like a peculiar optical illusion.
I’ve heard some very sad stories. At a malnutrition clinic in rural Hama, where people aren’t getting enough food, one of our ambulance drivers told me about a woman who had lost her home and was living in the shell of a building. She needed medical treatment, but she refused to leave the shelter. She was too shell-shocked and traumatised to leave the only home she had. She physically refused to be moved. In the end, SARC brought medication and a doctor to her.
Sometimes you do see change. One volunteer told me about a family who were living in a tent because they had no paperwork. They’d been stuck there for months, so the mobile team were bringing them food. When they first saw the children they were at the acute malnutrition stage but after a few months the boys were healthy, happy – as happy as it is possible to be in that situation. I know a lot of the volunteers keep photographs on their phones of stories like this. You want to be reminded sometimes that it can work, that things can get better
