SOOHÊR EL-ÎDLİBÎ

Idlib - 40-year-old Meram El-Hisên, originally from the city of Maarat al-Numan, NE Syria, was forcibly displaced from her hometown due to ongoing military operations in 2019 and she has lived in a tent in the Til El-Keram Refugee Camp since then.

On March 25, 2017, Meram El-Hisên went to visit her relatives while her four children and husband stayed at home. When she was at her relative’s home, her house was bombed and her four children and husband died in the bombardment. Even though five years have passed since the incident took place, she has not forgotten the tragedy that affects her whole life and leaves her alone. Despite the trauma she has suffered from, she has kept struggling against this tragedy. She has launched an initiative for illiterate women living in the refugee camp.

“Mama don’t be late”

Speaking about the day she lost her family, Meram El-Hisên said, “I heard the sound of the explosion coming from my house. At that moment, I felt my soul leaving my body. I run to my house in hopes of seeing my family members alive. But I saw my destroyed house. Civil defense teams took the dead bodies of family members out of the house one by one. I still hear the voice of my 5-year-old son Menaf saying, ‘Mama, don’t be late’.”

An initiative for women

Despite everything she faced, Meram El-Hisên holds on to life in the refugee camp. Stating that she wanted to develop a project for women around her, Meram El-Hisên said, “I launched an initiative for all illiterate women living in the camp. For this reason, I turned my tent into a school for women to learn how to write and read because most women living in the camp are illiterate. They face difficulties in reading WhatsApp messages and the ads. I designed this project to support them.”

She learned how to read and write

30-year-old Sabrin El-Hesên is one of the women attending the courses held in the tent. “I learned how to read and write. Now, I support my children to read and write,” she told NuJINHA.