The courage to survive in Syria Up From the Ashes: A Syrian Doctor’s Story of Sacrifice and Hope
by ‘Dr A’ with Samara Levy (Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99/€19.99)
Anthony Redmond
This is a truly incredible and inspiring story of a Syrian Christian doctor who decided to stay in his country and help as many people as he could after the horrific war broke out there in 2011.
He came from a financially-poor family, but as a child in school he studied hard and won a scholarship to study medicine and he became a doctor. He worked as an intensive care doctor and donated money to help his hospital. He was motivated by strong Christian principles and values.
In 2011 a huge and monstrous change took place in Syria. Huge numbers of jihadists in the country, or who flooded into the country, had the intention of overthrowing the government of Bashar al-Assad and establishing an extremist Islamic regime.
Dr A (he tries to remain anonymous to protect himself and his family) began to notice changes towards him in some of his work colleagues and neighbours. They began to show open resentment and hostility to his Christianity. He felt a growing extremism and opposition to anyone who failed to support the jihadists. He felt suddenly afraid.
Changes
“Big changes were happening in Syria,” he writes. “But we could never have conceived at that time just how far-reaching those changes would be. They were not just life-changing for us. The whole fabric of our nation, our community and our humanity changed. The area around the hospital quickly became tense, and kidnappings started. The victims didn’t have political motives, they were just wealthy people who could afford to pay the ransoms. This was one of many ways in which jihadist groups raised funds. So many people I knew were kidnapped, a lot of them doctors, as they were well off. Yet when the ransoms were paid, most of them were killed.”
Christians and Shia and anyone who disagreed with the violent jihadists were killed or kidnapped for huge ransoms. Dr A’s home was taken over by Islamists. He had to hide with his family.
Dr A thought about leaving Syria with his wife and four children. However, something told him that God wanted him to stay and help his people regardless of their religion or politics. He read the Bible and asked God for guidance. He decided to stay. He felt that he was part of his country.
He managed to make contact with Samara Levy in the UK. She is the CEO of Samara’s Aid Appeal which provides medical and humanitarian aid in Syria and the Middle East. She has assisted him in writing this deeply moving book.
Dr A says: “But one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that before the war our situation in Syria had started to become better than it had ever been before. The standard of living had been improving, and people had a greater ability to buy everything they needed. They were living better lives…We were also beginning to feel a greater sense of freedom of speech than we had ever had before. There were still problems and limitations to that, but we could talk freely. Practices that have spanned generations don’t change overnight. It takes time.”
How could anyone think that ISIS and Al Nusra were anything other than pure evil?
Yet, the West supported many of the jihadist rebels and did everything to bring about regime change in Syria. In effect, the West was actually supporting the terrorists in Syria. Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, the Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Hasakeh-Nisibi, said that if President Assad goes Syria will become another Libya. He says it is for the Syrian people themselves to decide if and when Assad should go, not the US, Britain or any Western country.
There are some stories that Dr A tells that will deeply shock you and make your hair stand on end, yet his faith in God and love for people never fails. Many of the experiences he describes kept me awake at night.
He writes: “My eyes have seen too much: people who had been savagely tortured and killed, those who had had body parts cut off, groups of fighters in Syria cutting out the heart of their enemy and then eating it. After seeing these atrocities, the meaning of most things that people focus their lives on was lost to me. I found myself asking, what is worthy of spending your life on? The conclusion I came to is that only God and his values are worthy.”
This powerful, heartrending book needs to be read and seriously reflected upon. And after all that Syria and its people have suffered, they now have to endure US sanctions which are making their lives even more miserable and unbearable. Will their suffering ever end?