Reports | 25 05 2020
After a year of displacement to the Wadi al-Nasara [Valley of the Christians] area in Homs, the septuagenarian woman is out on her almost daily round to try and find a house for rent. She persists on her own price, "I cannot afford to pay more than 12 thousand Syrian pounds;" which is often met with ridicule and bemusement from residents in this area, which has become well-known for its high cost of living recently.
Umm Sargon prays to God that no one should suffer what she had, saying: "We used to live very well in Hasakah [in the north-eastern Jazeera region]—until the clans and ISIS invaded our homes and our property in the Jazeera, that is. Now all of our wealth is lost."
Umm Sargon is intensifying her search efforts for the desired home, with the harsh winter months fast approaching. She tells Rozana: "We cannot stay much longer... Our current landlord wants to evacuate us. I started to look for a new house three months ago, without any success. I do not know if there will be anyone to offer us shelter, next month."
Accommodation at the Shelter?
Neither Umm Sargon nor her daughters are keen on the idea of housing in shelters or open houses for the displaced. They come from a well-known family in al-Hasakah, as they claim. Their dignity will not allow them to live in shelters with "strangers."
With passage of time, however, this small family seems to have 'swallowed' the idea of living at the Shelter. Lauren, the eldest daughter, describes: "We had many discussion about finding a small house for us, but we were unable to. It seems that we are going to have no other choice but to stay at the shelter next month."
If Only We Hadn't Come!
George and Aziz, two middle-aged brothers, used to sell vegetables in Qamishli, before being displaced to al-Hwash, a town in the Wadi al-Nasara—"Nadara" [Freshness]—as the regime's officialdom decided to call it.
They lament to Rozana: "If only we hadn't come here!" George adds: "It is not easy to find a proper job... I worked as a waiter in a restaurant, a barber, a carpenter... None of these jobs gave me a reasonable income. We are now in a state of total bankruptcy."
The brothers recently traveled to the capital Damascus, in the hope of finding temporary work that may allow them to save enough money, so they can afford plane tickets back to Qamishli.
The Shabeeha Were Awaiting Them!
Aram's family thought that—by distancing themselves from all threats with which they had been surrounded in their village of South Damkhiyeh near Qamishli—they would be safe in Wadi al-Nasara. Apparently, the area's Shabeeha [regime thugs' militia] were awaiting them.
Aram, who had only recently started working as a house watchman in al-Hwash, was kidnapped at the hands of the Shabeeha five months ago. The family somehow managed to secure the amount of two million Syrian Pounds requested as ransom by the kidnappers, to secure his safe return.
In this regard, Aram's wife says: "After we managed to secure the money by asking for money from relatives in Sweden and Qamishli, we threw it behind a rock on the Damascus-Homs highway, exactly as they ordered us to. It was agreed that my husband would be returned the next day—but he is yet to be returned to us."
The regime's government turns a blind eye to kidnappings and killings committed by the Shabeeha, abounding in the countryside of Latakia and Homs. In the opinion of many, including Aram's wife, "the regime not only turns a blind eye to the thugs' actions, but also facilitates their business through the security officials who have themselves become Shabeeha."
Displacement and Stability
"Living in Qamishli has become unbearable," says Rama. According to her, the city has been emptied, with all her friends and relatives emigrating. This is what pushed them to come to the Wadi al-Nasara area.
The case of Rama and her family resembles that of many Christians in al-Hasakah and Qamishli and their surrounding villages, who saw in the Wadi al-Nasara areas a safe haven where they can settle down.
In addition to Christians, a sizeable number of al-Jazeera Kurds also moved into the Wadi, for work or learning in the area's universities. The number of arrivals from the Syrian Jazeera is estimated at a thousand people. Most of them chose to settle in the town of Mazyaneh, followed by al-Hwash and Marmarita.