Reports | 29 11 2016
Alia left her education in order to support her siblings and father, so she found a way to face difficult conditions caused by the siege imposed on Hula, in Homs countryside.
A way to survive!
In a place, free of any life necessity, the man may go back to his basic abilities that do not need complicated tools, to stay a life and support his family.
The 20-years-old-Alia lives in the valley of Hula which is besieged by the Syrian regime forces since more than a year. She is responsible for her father and little sisters who left their schools because of the bad conditions, Alia decided to go back to her heritage in order to make a living, so she revived her memory through practicing "beading".
The young lady started working with beading to get enough money that can suffice her and her family to survive and face the siege, she said: I and my sisters work with beading, my father is an old man cannot work and provide our needs and bear the burden of our expenses, and my married brother also suffers very bad conditions and cannot support us.
Alia learned the beading from her mother, who died under the bombardment, and Alia, in turn, taught the craft to her little sisters in order to be able to start helping her in work and to earn more money that suffices their basic needs.
Sara (10 years), Alia’s sister, said to Rozana: my sister taught me embroidery, she is married, and after my mother died we have no one left, my brother has a big family, we try to support him and ourselves.
Hard profession although it seems easy
The appearance of things does not reflect its interior, the same applies to the profession of beading, where although it seems easy, but in fact it is a hard profession and requires effort and time, and it has a negative impact on the eyesight, and whoever works in beading, he must keep his eyes open starring at the smallest details in order to continue the drawing or so called (Beading Ornament).
As well as, this profession limits the human’s ability to move, especially that he spends his day sitting in front of the fabric, moving his hands slowly in deliberated moves, and this profession is not one of the professions that usually earn much money, where the production process takes a long time.
Alia confirms: "the beadwork takes much time and effort, our prices are acceptable, where the piece’s price is up to 1500 Syrian Pounds, and our production is desirable in shops and they support us."
She adds: "we work for not being a burden on others and to not need anyone, our financial conditions are improving, sometimes we have a lot of work, and sometimes we do not."
The customers’ opinion
The repercussions of the siege imposed by the Syrian regime forces on the valley of Hula in Homs countryside, are increasing day by day, and their situation getting worse, their financial resources are decreasing, as well as the high proportion of families who lost their providers as a result of the ongoing bombardment on civilians in the valley.
Mohamad says: "Alia’s work is very neat and well-ordered, I always buy clothes and embroidered drawings from her with acceptable prices."
Abu Hassan confirms: "I find a big difficulty in buying their products because of the high demand for their goods, their late mother was creative in her work and she handed over this creativity to her daughters, where their work is very neat, pretty, and hard, but still they are creative."
Alia who gave up her education at the university, Sara who stopped her study at the primary fourth grade and many other girls were able to live with the imposed reality, despite all its difficulties.