Syrian community marks Assad’s fall

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This article was published 24/12/2024 (268 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The recent political upheaval in Syria — which ended Bashar al-Assad’s authoritarian rule and marked the end of a years-long bloody conflict in the strife-ridden region — was celebrated with gusto by more 200 Syrians living in Brandon on Sunday evening.

Commemorating the recent developments with a high-energy evening suffused with music, dancing and desserts, the local Syrian community came together to reminisce about their home country and celebrate Syria’s return to relative normalcy and a democratically elected government in the future.

“We’re celebrating Syrian freedom,” Ameen Aljundi told the Sun at the event. “Freedom that we’ve been fighting for, for over 11 years now. There was so much blood shed in Syria; we’re talking about a million deaths.”

“But believe it or not,” Aljundi added, “within the last two weeks, it’s been a mixture of happiness and disaster at the same time. The happiness because of the end of such a dictatorship in Syria, but also sadness in a lot of families’ hearts, because they’ve realized their kids are gone, disappeared.”

The Syrian community’s celebration was held in one of Westman Immigrant Services’ (WIS’s) locations at 403 13th St., next to St. Matthew’s Anglican Cathedral.

Eighteen-year-old Kaltoum Alabeid has been in Canada for four years, with the last two in Brandon. She described some of the homemade desserts that she said brought back the good memories of when she was a little girl in Syria.

There were treats including barazek, which is a biscuit covered with sesame and pistachio nuts. Mohalabia is made with sugar, starch and milk custard, and served with crushed pistachios or shredded coconut on top, and halawet el-jibn is made from flour and cheese dough, and is filled with cream.

Kaltoum said her whole family rejoiced on Dec. 8, when “Assad left Syria.”

“My dad was jumping, my mom was jumping, and my brother dancing. We cried a lot, tears of happiness. It was such a big moment for us,” she said.

Kaltoum’s family fled Syria when she and her twin brother were six years old, but said she still remembers the buildings destroyed by the “planes dropping bombs, and people’s blood on the ground,” in her home city of Aleppo.

“I appreciate my parents for finding us a new place,” Kaltoum said, “but I’m sad for my mom and dad because they left their parents, cousins, uncles, brothers.”

“On my mom’s side, my auntie’s arm was cut due to a bomb, and her daughter-in-law was pregnant when she died. Most of the family lives in tents now, but they will be back at their house soon which is amazing.”

Domestic flights connecting major cities, such as Damascus and Aleppo, have resumed in Syria.

Jomaa Alabeid, Kaltoum’s twin brother said that as soon as international travel is “a bit safer, I’m going there. One hundred per cent I hope to go next summer. That’s where my heart is,” he said.

Sara Sukari was a pharmacist when she met her husband Muhammad Al Ibrahim, a lab technician — while they were working at a hospital in Damascus.

Al Ibrahim recalled an incident from 2012 when he was told that medicine was only to be given to members of the military, and not civilians.

Shortly after that, he added, he received an order to join the military.

“I told them I am a lab technician; I don’t know how to use a gun. ‘You don’t have a choice,’ they said. So, I agreed and put in for vacation for two weeks, took my passport and ran to Lebanon.”

He and Sukari were engaged once they both got to Egypt and have been in Brandon since 2021.

It’s been 10 years since they’ve seen their parents and are hoping to introduce them to their four children, this summer.

“We couldn’t post anything on Facebook against the government, because our family in Syria may get arrested,” Sukari said. “And when I talked with my parents, I couldn’t say anything either, I was scared that something bad would happen to them.”

The years 2015 and 2016 saw the highest number of Syrian refugees arriving in Manitoba, with a two-year total pegged at 1,493, according to the Manitoba Government’s Immigration website.

Since 2016, just over 200 Syrian refugees have settled in Brandon, as was previously reported in the Sun, based on data provided by WIS.

“We love Brandon,” Sukari and Al Ibrahim said at the same time, with Sukari adding, “I just passed an exam with the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada. I have one last exam in May, and if I pass, I will be licensed here in Canada.”

Al Ibrahim said he cares for the children, working part-time construction jobs, and then he hopes to be a lab technician again.

“We can’t upgrade together, so we’re going step by step.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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