MOHAMMAD AL KHATIB ’ S STORY

Mohammad was born in Damascus, Syria during a time of rampant turmoil as a result of political corruption. From the time he was born onward, Mohammad was exposed to missiles, worker riots, and corpses filling the streets of Damascus on a daily basis. Due to the chaos and danger that accompanied his life in a war-torn country, his family lived a life of constant movement. At the age of three, Mohammad’s family moved out of their home to hide with family friends who had a room to protect them from missiles. While they were able to return to their home after this missile incident, they did not stay long since war and violence was only getting worse. Mohammad described that whenever he left his house and went outside, he was essentially risking his life. Getting killed was a common occurrence, even for tiny disturbances such as children innocently misbehaving. Since Mohammad’s mother had to look after three small children, including one newborn girl, their family was in a vulnerable position. Mohammad recalls many “close calls'' while walking down the streets. He witnessed brutality towards some of his dearest relatives, a traumatic experience for anyone, especially a three year old boy. Shortly after Mohammad returned to his home after fleeing to his family friend’s house, his family had a period of two days to pack up their belongings and leave their home. Violence stirred in the streets, and Mohammad watched missiles and shooting going on all around the car he was traveling in to leave his home. Traveling by car was not much safer than by foot. Mohammad’s family’s car was shot at and targeted many times on their journey to a temporary safe place to live. The family was traveling to a house that formerly belonged to Mohammad’s relatives who left Syria before this time. Mohammad’s grandma informed them of the vacancy in this house since she was able to leave her home more freely than Mohammad, his parents, and siblings. While the extremists caused and continue to cause immense suffering for the majority of Syrian society, they did not treat the elderly as terribly as they did the rest of society in this time. The extremists held a level of respect towards the elder citizens of society, and they therefore had more “privileges.”

Mohammad’s family lived in the house that formerly belonged to their relatives for around a year. Although this house was in a safer neighborhood than that of his old home, it was still dangerous as war intensified and spread to all parts of Syria. Mohammad’s family was no longer living in Damascus, for they made a dangerous journey to a small town, slowly working their way towards the border between Syria and Jordan. Mohammad still risked his life every time he stepped out of the house. The only person who really went outside to fetch groceries and necessities of life was his father. However, Mohammad and his friend temporarily attended a school in the small town while they were there. He described how there was a huge hole in the roof because the terrorists bombed the school, but no one thought much of it, and they continued attenting the school. Mohammad ultimately did not stay long at this school because one day he was at school and the terrorists started bombing the area. Mohammad and his cousin were “running for their lives” for one kilometer to find shelter at her house. After this day, Mohammad stopped going to school, and his family left the town immediately. The family then moved to one of Mohammad’s aunts' houses further into the countryside for a while, and they tried to convince her to flee to Jordan with them, but she refused and wanted to stay despite the danger in war-torn Syria. Mohammad’s family then moved to two more houses near the border while Mohammad’s uncle living in Amman, Jordan was making arrangements to get them across the border.