My odyssey turned into stability and confidence

Hamid, Project Team

Hamid’s story is a story shared by many Syrians, a fate made up by displacement and restart, resignation and confidence, powerlessness and hope.

Hamid is Agriculture Engineer and project team member since 2015. In 2018 he was displaced when fleeing from war in North Syria. Since 2019 he is again part of the team in Raqqa, where he reached a sense of membership and stability for his family and himself.

Hamid , now an integral part of the project team in Syria, started working with CIHEAM Bari as early as 2016 through the previous programme “Agriculture and Livestock Support to the Syrian People”. His story is part of an odyssey, revealing the fate of many Syrians in the past years; a remarkable story, full of moments of resignation and helpless despair, but also of passion, dedication and confidence in a brighter future.

“My name is Hamid, I was born and raised in the province of Aleppo. We are part of the Kurdish minority of the multi-religious and multi-ethnic Syrian population. My father and grandparents have always been farmers and have worked in agriculture since time immemorial in the Afrin area, where we own a piece of land in Kutma, a small village near Kfarjana. I finished my studies in agricultural engineering with passion, specializing in agricultural economics.

It was 2009 and I had almost finished my studies when I found a nice job in the public sector. Then the civil war began... I was at the peak of my working skills and towards my self-fulfillment, working on my personality and testing my skills. But the effects of the war began to appear in their brutality in all aspects of life with security problems and the first deaths, the rise in the cost of living, stagnation and then the total paralysis of the economy. My country was in free fall towards the worst living conditions and the victims in the city of Aleppo were already very numerous. One night, my father’s house in Aleppo was bombed and we were forced to flee to our hometown of Afrin, which at the time was safe in comparison with the rest of Syria. At that time, Afrin was surrounded by militias and an economic siege was applied to the city.

I lost my job in the government and I became unemployed. I started helping my father work in our fields, but the siege was too strong, and farming was not enough for us to make a living. This condition forced my brothers and two of my sisters to migrate to Germany to escape from this unbearable situation. We stayed, with my two other brothers, my father and my mother.

Then in 2016 I heard that an international organization named CIHEAM was launching a development program to support the agricultural sector. I applied, and after a long interview I got the job as technician. As the days went by and with a direct involvement in field operations in contact with farmers, breeders and in coordination with the existing local council administration in Afrin, I gained confidence in the management of agricultural activities, feeling the impact that the project was having on the lives of farmers and breeders in the area.

Through the guidance of the project management and through distance learning courses, I was able to further deepen my knowledge of the English language, the management of associations, agricultural and livestock pests and disease control.

I have gained the trust of farmers who have shown their trust in my advice and suggestions.

One of the most important things to mention: I became self-sufficient and resilient thanks to a regular salary. I can’t hide that this was the first reason that led me to apply for the team office in Afrin, my condition at that time was really bad. I earned an income that is a very important psychological factor and allowed me to improve the living conditions of my family. Slowly I acquired a sense of stability that encouraged me to finally marry in 2017, building a small family with a small child. Things were going well.

In February 2018, however, the war fires had eventually reached the city of Afrin, death and fear spread throughout the country with intense shelling, leaving hundreds of victims behind. I was forced to flee with my wife, my child and the rest of the family, including my father through the worst and most terrifying conditions of displacement I have ever experienced in my life. There was no other choice. Difficult roads, dangers, insecurity due to the spread of bandits and thieves, but in the end, we managed to reach Aleppo. The city was half destroyed, but my only concern was to seek temporary shelter for my family. At this point, in the city of Aleppo, where the economic recession was evident everywhere and jobs were scarce, I returned to zero, and this till November 2018.

The thing I gained from my work in the Afrin team was the trust of my colleagues and the project management in the Gaziantep office. As a result, the project management encouraged me to move to the technical team in the city of Al-Hassakeh in northeastern Syria. This was the return to psychological and economic stability, as I was able to protect my family through the income I received and also expand my experience and skills within the different Syrian geography.

Finally in the summer of 2019 I moved to Raqqa to support the staff of the Ra.L.A. project, where I still work. Now in Raqqa I consider myself a resident of this city together with all its citizens. I could not find myself in a better job than with the Italian project, where I can offer my experiences for agricultural support to the Syrian people.

Syria was a home where everyone lived without feeling the difference, or alienation, within the Syrian motherland.

Now I can complete my life. Now I can raise my family and give my child a brother or sister.

In the end, I pray to God that peace and security will prevail in every part of the land of Syria and in every country in the world.”