KAsem’s teens were spent under siege in the city of Homs, where friends and family members disappeared into regime prisons and her family lived without electricity much of the time, struggling to obtain food and medicine. All the while, Bashar al-Assad’s air force dropped barrel bombs and cluster munitions on their area.
When the city fell, the Kasems faced a choice that millions of others would make in the course of the war: continue to face Assad’s troops, who treat them like terrorists, or flee to Idlib province – too unstable, but at least outside the government. control.
“I thought we were moving from one hell to another,” the 21-year-old student said. “But at least once we got there, I could focus on study again and how I could help build Syria again. My generation still carries the same hope for justice and freedom. We will not give up on what the older generation started. ‘
After ten years of war, Assad, with the help of his Russian and Iranian allies, regained control of most of the country, and the dream of a ‘Free Syria’ was confined to a northwestern pocket that existed from the city of Idlib. and the surrounding countryside.
An Islamic group with links to al-Qaeda showed control of the area from other opposition factions in 2019; direct airstrikes and the possibility of a full-scale assault remain an ongoing threat.
There are few jobs, and a steady stream of aid cuts has made life even more difficult for the estimated 3 million civilians trapped between the two forces. And yet, every Friday, groups of people still march to the squares of towns and villages to sing slogans and wave banners in support of Syria’s revolution, repeating the same demands as a decade ago. Big celebrations are expected on Monday 15 March – commemorating the day in 2011, several dozen protesters took to the streets of Damascus to demand freedom.
“The price of joining the revolution was not small. We paid a great price and suffered huge losses. But we are not just victims. We are survivors, ”said Hasna Issa, 36, an activist formerly detained by the regime now working on gender equality and women’s leadership programs at Kesh Malek, a civic organization working across northern Syria.
“We are raising the next generation in a different way than we could have imagined before. My twin daughters are nine … They will not only be able to vote in free elections in the future; they know they can make themselves eligible. ”
Kesh Malek, created in the early days of the uprising, holds workshops for young citizens in which young men and women can learn about the principles of democracy, human rights and non-violent resistance that support the revolution. The organizers also consider the program an important bulwark against extremism.
“I did not think we would fight for basic rights so much later,” said Mohamed Barakat, the manager of a community center in the town of Killi.
“When the revolution started, I thought about what would happen in Syria in other countries like Tunisia. I thought the regime would walk away and give in to the people’s demand for freedom. Instead, they launched military action and bombings, and I realized we would struggle for a long time.
“We have to keep the dream alive for the next generation … they are so motivated. Working with young people brings me hope and joy, ”he added.
The young people in Syria bear many scars, both physically and mentally. For teenagers and young people in their twenties, it is difficult to reconcile memories of the past of peacetime with the present.
‘I lost so much in the war. My father, my brother, years of my life as a young woman, ”said photographer Hiba Barakat (23).
‘I like my job as a photographer, but it’s hard to make enough money, and the situation here is unstable and dangerous. During the military campaign against Idlib last year, I went to document the bombing of a school, the day the regime targeted five schools in one day.
“I have to do something in a situation like this. I have to tell the story. But life here is unbearable. Activists, journalists, social workers. Everyone applies for asylum. ”
Dima Ghanoum, the head teacher of a school in Daret Azza, says all her students will also leave Syria in a heartbeat if given the chance.
‘The younger children are very curious about life before the war. My own daughter, she would ask, ‘Did you really go to restaurants where you could order food and sit down? Did you really have electricity all the time? ‘They are the first generation born into freedom, but they still do not understand what it is or the price we paid for it.
“Under the regime, we lived in an extremely unequal society. I can not properly describe what it feels like to teach in a tent, to sometimes have to stop class, only to embrace your students to make them tremble with fear and cold.
‘But I will never go into government control again. We live in hardship and fear … but it’s still better than that. ”
Putting Syria’s pieces back together for now remains a distant dream. For the new generation, this may not even happen: according to research by Save the Children, one in three children displaced in the country wants to leave, and 86% of the children of refugees interviewed in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and the Netherlands is, said do not want to return to the country their parents left.
“At our age, we faced different things than the older generation of activists did,” Kasem said. “Our childhood was completely destroyed. But we have the duty and the ability to continue … Our efforts to make Syria a better place deserve support from the outside world.
“Without the Syrian revolution, I would not be who I am now.”