When Syrians took to the streets in March 2011 to address their dire, silenced living conditions and complicated circumstances, they showed enormous courage to overcome oppression. They took a huge chance on the question: “What’s keeping you from saying what you want?” in spite of real fear of unspeakable suffering and annihilation.
My stories in Syria Welcomes A Stranger are not about the war in Syria or the state of the country now. They are about the parts of Syria I visited and the people I encountered in October 2010, before the war began in the Spring of 2011. Tragically, since then those Syrians I met in 2010, photographed and included in my stories, have endured the most unspeakable suffering, in country or as refugees. Many may not be alive at all. Every city, town and ancient site I visited in Syria has now changed unrecognizably or disappeared completely.
My intention for Syria Welcomes A Stranger is to bring increased awareness of the current Syrian refugee crisis to my networks and to offer my continued support of a peaceful Syrian revolutionary cause.
