March marks 10 years since the first peaceful protests in Syria. It has been a decade of devastating loss for all Syrians. Loss of loved ones. Loss of home. Loss of culture. Loss of identity. And oftentimes, loss of hope.
With your support, we aim to help restore dignity, potential, and opportunity to the lives of millions of Syrians, wherever they may be.
Join Lina Sergie Attar, Ghalia Rahal, Wafa Mustafa, Josie Naughton, and Waad Al-Kateab as they come together to highlight different areas of the Syrian revolution and crisis of the past decade.
This conversation aims to reflect on the past tragic period of Syrian history and shine a light forward as refocusing on the potential of the future.
Moderated by award-winning CNN journalist, Clarissa Ward.
Watch the event below!
Lina Sergie Attar is founder and CEO of Karam Foundation. She is a Syrian-American architect and writer from Aleppo. She was named one of GOOD magazine’s 2016 GOOD 100 for Karam’s innovative work with Syrian refugees. Her articles and essays have been published in the NYT, Chicago Tribune, Foreign Policy, Politico, The Atlantic, and BBC. She has appeared on CNN, NBC News, BBC News, Huffington Post, NPR and other media outlets. Lina has spoken about the Syrian humanitarian crisis at schools, universities, and institutions including: RISD, Harvard, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, The New School, Phillips Exeter Academy, King’s Academy in Jordan, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, New America, the Aspen Institute, and others. Sergie Attar is a co-founder of the How Many More? project, serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of The Syria Campaign, and is a non-resident fellow at New America. See Lina’s TEDx talk here.
Ghalia Rahal is the founder of the Mazaya Center in Idlib, Syria, a women’s empowerment program in northwestern Syria. A mother of four, she has overcome tremendous challenges ranging from challenging her conservative community and shattering restrictive social norms to advocating for women’s rights and standing on the front lines of fighting violent extremist groups. She is a founding member of Union of Revolutionary Bureaus -along with our lost hero Raed Fares. She is a winner of the Thompson Reuters award for Trust Power in Women. Ghalia is currently working on a project to provide academic and vocational training to 175 displaced women living in camps in northern Syria.
After fleeing Aleppo in December 2016, Waad, her husband, and their two daughters now reside in London, United Kingdom. Waad currently continues to work with Channel 4, is a mentor to female journalists and dedicates time to her advocacy campaign, Action For Sama. The campaign, launched in 2019, focuses on utilizing FOR SAMA as a unique educational tool to build more empathetic responses to the situation in Syria and end impunity for the war crimes committed there. Action For Sama campaign’s ultimate aim is the pursuit of accountability for the perpetrators of war crimes in Syria as conducted through the targeting of civilians and hospitals. and dedicates time to her advocacy campaign, Action For Sama, which focuses on raising awareness about the situation in Syria and Syrian Refugees and seeks accountability for the war crimes committed by the Syrian and Russian regimes.
In 2015, when the humanitarian crisis unfolded in Calais, Northern France, Josie’s instinct was to utilize her experience of social media and her established career in the music industry in order to support vulnerable groups neglected on Britain’s doorstep. From starting by rallying friends around a hashtag ‘HelpCalais’ to collect and deliver aid to France, Josie is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Choose Love, a non-profit organization funding over 125 projects across Europe, the Middle East and the US and sister organisation Choose Love Inc in the US. Working closely with Lord Alf Dubs, Josie is a leading advocate for refugee rights in the UK and has led the fight to the successful campaign for the ‘Dubs amendment’; a legislation that means the UK now offers sanctuary to unaccompanied children stranded across Europe. Josie was named one of the Bill and Melinda Gates ‘Global Goalkeepers’ in 2017 and one of the Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 “changemakers” in 2018.
Wafa Mustafa is an activist, a journalist, and a survivor from detention. Mustafa comes from Masyaf, a city in the Hama Governorate, western Syria. She left the country on 9 July 2013, exactly a week after her father was forcibly disappeared by the regime in Damascus. She moved to Turkey and began reporting on Syria for various media outlets. In 2016, she moved to Germany and continued her interrupted studies in Berlin where she studied Arts and Aesthetics at Bard College and graduated in Spring 2020. Like many of other families, Wafa doesn’t know what has happened to her father, Ali Mustafa. He was arrested once before in August 2011 due to his humanitarian efforts to help internally displaced people fleeing from Hama city to Masyaf. In her advocacy, Mustafa covers the impact of detention on young girls and women and families.
Learn more about these individuals and organizations providing relief and advocating for Syrians around the world.
Through Action For Sama, there are various ways that you can take action for the people of Syria, from showing solidarity on social, donating to humanitarians working on the ground, writing to your MP, getting creative, and hosting a future screening of FOR SAMA for your community and networks.
Choose Love does whatever it takes to provide refugees and displaced people with everything from lifesaving search and rescue boats to food and legal advice. The Choose Love store sells real products for refugees. Items you choose will be delivered to the people facing winter in the most difficult conditions.
Karam Foundation invests in Syrian refugee youth so that they can build a better future for themselves and their communities.
Join Karam in building 10,000 Leaders for the future of Syria.
Mazaya is a network of eight women’s centers, plus five child-care centers, in Kafr Nabl and other towns across southern Idlib. The women’s centers provide nursing and vocational training, job placement and professional development services. The Mazaya organization now produces both a print and an electronic magazine that make the case for education and empowerment for women and girls.
The Syria Campaign is a human rights advocacy group supporting Syria’s heroes in the struggle for freedom and democracy. Join them to stand with Syria’s heroes.
Award-winning photojournalist Bassam Khabieh has created a uniquely impactful study of the lives of children during conflict in his forthcoming book, Witnesses to War: The Children of Syria. The book’s power is deepened with the addition of an introductory essay and interview by acclaimed writer Alia Malek (The Home That Was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria), Bassam’s personal vignettes, and a timeline of the major elements of the long conflict.
Preorder the book now.
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