Darayya (Rural Damascus, southwest of Damascus) was not an expected destination for an Egyptian man seeking a new beginning. The usual path, as Gamal Mohammad says, often went in the opposite direction, Syrians going to Egypt for work or stability, not an Egyptian coming to Syria to open a small business in a city emerging from years of war and destruction.
Gamal, from al-Matariyyah in Cairo, chose to try a different path. He came to Darayya nearly a year ago with a simple idea, a small grocery shop where he could earn a living and expand step by step.
In Egypt, the young man worked in delivery by motorcycle, moving between restaurants, homes, and companies for a shipping company.
Before that, he worked at a gas station, but he found, as he told Enab Baladi, that his daily income was no longer enough amid rising prices, rents, and living costs.
Gamal said conditions in Egypt had become difficult, especially for those who do not own a private business or have a good fixed income.
He would work, then find that what he earned went to rent, food, and basic expenses, without any real ability to save or build a better future.
The decision did not come quickly. He spent about two months discussing the idea with his wife, a Syrian from Darayya, hesitating between staying in Egypt or moving to Syria, but he was looking for an opportunity to own his daily work rather than remain tied to a job or an income that was not enough.
He said he repeatedly prayed for guidance, then things began to fall into place. In May of last year, he arrived in Darayya, a city he knew through his wife’s family, though he had never lived there or known its market closely.
The start was a small project. He opened a limited grocery shop selling biscuits, cigarettes, mobile phone credit cards, and some daily necessities.
Gamal does not describe his project as anything more than its real size, “modest,” but he sees it as a beginning that can grow.
In the first days, selling was not the only challenge. He needed a house, a shop, and knowledge of the market and distributors.
Gamal said his father-in-law stood by him and helped him settle and start the project, alongside several traders and distributors who supported his first steps.
The hardest thing Gamal faced was finding a house to rent. Housing prices in Darayya seemed very high to him compared with the size and condition of the homes, as some landlords asked for payments in dollars or millions of Syrian pounds, while requiring several months of rent in advance.
Despite this difficulty, Gamal found a welcome in Darayya that eased his sense of estrangement.
He said people treated him well, and his wife’s family treated him as one of their own, not as a stranger who had come from another country.
But his Egyptian accent still reached customers before anything else. Whenever someone entered his shop and heard the way he spoke, they immediately asked him, “Are you Egyptian?”
For many, the idea was unfamiliar: an Egyptian living in Darayya and opening a business there.
Gamal laughs at this surprise. He knows Syrians are used to traveling to Egypt, but his experience took him in the opposite direction.
Over time, customers became accustomed to his accent, and he began learning the Syrian dialect, which he had known since his relationship with his wife.
Language was not a major barrier. He said he learned many Levantine words, and his daily contact with people helped him understand the dialect more.
His Egyptian accent remained clear, but it became part of the shop’s character, not an obstacle to work.
What left a greater impact on him was the scene of destruction he saw in Darayya. In Egypt, he used to hear about what happened in Syria and was affected by the news and images, but when he arrived in Darayya and saw the traces of war with his own eyes, he felt it was different.
The city, he said, is good because of its people, but it needs time to recover.
Gamal said prices in Syria are unstable and the market moves with changes in the exchange rate. Even so, he believes his project gives him an opportunity that was not available to him in the same way in Egypt. In Darayya, his work is in his own hands, his income comes from his shop, and he believes his small project will grow with time.
Gamal does not present his experience as a completed success story. He is still at the beginning, selling daily needs in a small shop, watching customer movement and prices, and trying to establish himself in a city new to him, but he sees in this beginning something worth trying.
Between Cairo and Darayya, Gamal crossed a distance unlike ordinary work journeys. He did not come to a fully stable city, but to a place slowly recovering.
Even so, he found in Darayya people who welcomed him, a market where he could try, and a small window onto a livelihood he hopes will grow.
The post Egyptian Starts New Life in Darayya Grocery Shop appeared first on Enab Baladi.