I see myself in Syria to rebuild what has been destroyed

Mohammad, Project Team

“In practice, the work has been an escape route to forget all the sufferings and killings that we were experiencing every day.”

Mohammad is member of the project team in Idleb and with CIHEAM Bari since 2015. He has been key figure in developing the two women associations in Idleb. Like many others, also Mohammad’s life is shaped by the war-torn circumstances in his city, seeing his beloved house bombed to smithereens. But still, Mohammad didn’t lose faith and keeps on constantly rebuilding his home, his city, his country.

Idleb, a governorate torn apart by war in north-west Syria, was one of the six areas where CIHEAM Bari implemented early recovery interventions in favour of rural communities and its farmers. As food engineer, Mohammad was engaged in the setup of a rural women’s association for developing together food processing activities.

Mohammad, happily married, two children, a girl and a boy, waiting for him at home, worked for the previous programme “Agriculture and livestock support for the Syrian people” and is currently involved in the activities of the Idleb satellite office of the Ra.L.A. project. Like many others, Mohammad also had a stable job in the food processing industry of northern Syria before the war disrupted his life.

“At the beginning, the working conditions were very difficult and demanding for the team. Farmers and women suffered greatly from the war. Sometimes the shelling was so heavy that we were forced to stop our work. At other times, all supplies to the city were cut and we could not buy the materials needed to carry out the work. But after some time, we managed to meet different groups of women and it was decided to found the first women’s association in the area. We held several meetings with the association to study the ideas presented by the members and to determine the economic and social feasibility of the proposed economic activities.”

During the implementation of the program in Syria, Mohammad played a key role in the creation of two active women’s associations, which now - 1 year after the end of the program - are still in operation and have even expanded their product line and assortment.

“I worked closely with the women members of the association to improve the quality of productions, training them on technical issues and helping them to set up a value- and supply chain on the local market, where they could find buyers for the goods produced.

One day, while I was at the market to help women sell some products, I heard some people passing through talking about a heavy bombing in my neighborhood. After I realized what had happened, I was shocked and surprised that my area could be targeted by air strikes. My house, bought and restored with so many efforts... I was paralyzed and could not run to reach my family as quickly as possible.

When I returned home, the destruction was total. My family, who were still at home, could be saved and thank God they were unharmed. We lived displaced for some time until I could repair the roof and the interior of my house; I still pray to God for a salary, allowing me to rebuild what had been damaged by the bombs. At the end of February 2019, most of the activities stopped due to the bombings and we were forced to close the project office.

I’m still visiting the municipal administrations we worked with, the women’s associations and the laboratories to provide our technical help. Sometimes I just visit the women’s factories with the sole purpose of buying one or more of their delicious products. The same goes for the peasants, sometimes I still pass by and go to visit them, reassure them and give advice when needed.

Working within the project has given me the opportunity to improve, day after day. In practice, the work has been an escape route to forget all the sufferings and killings that we were experiencing every day.”