Syrian Refugees: Personal Connections

Now returning to rebuild their country

During my nearly nine years in the Middle East, I met many Syrians. A few were students who, living in the shadow of danger or death, seemed to live life more intensely than other people. I remember several Syrian students with rebellious streaks, and a sense of fearlessness. One wanted to become a war correspondent in her home country.

I regularly encountered a gaggle of Syrian children at the Abu Dhabi dog park, eager for diversions and obsessed with my dogs, as if they were going on safari and canines were no different than lions or tigers. Petting and befriending dogs, they felt, were acts of bravery.

One Syrian family befriended me and regularly asked questions about life in America. They had relatives in Allentown, PA, which has the largest Syrian population in the U.S. My new friends were waiting in the UAE to be granted asylum by the U.S. In the last months of the Obama administration, before Donald Trump tried to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., they were granted asylum and were so relieved, happy, even exuberant about entering a safe country where they thought “the streets would be paved with gold.”

No, life in Allentown probably wouldn’t be easy, I said, and the streets weren’t likely paved with gold. They seemed very determined. I felt they would be an asset to the U.S. and I was proud that my country was giving safe harbor to worthy refugees. They could not bear the thought of never seeing Syria again and wanted to return to help rebuild after the civil war ended.

Below: background on the civil war in Syria; the country’s strategic importance; links to stories about returning refugees and the vicious dictator Bashar Al-Assad; my attempt to visit Syria from Turkey in 2010; link to my memoir, Turkish Delight and Sorrow.

Syria’s civil war started in 2011 in response to the dictatorial actions of Bashar Al Assad as he crushed