AFP photographer Sameer al-Doumy by no means dreamed he would be capable of return to the hometown in Syria that he escaped by way of a tunnel seven years in the past after it was besieged by Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
Douma, as soon as a insurgent stronghold close to Damascus, suffered terribly for its defiance of the previous regime, and was the sufferer of a very horrific chemical weapons assault in 2018.
“It is sort of a dream for me right now to search out myself again right here,” he mentioned.
“The revolution was a dream, getting out of a besieged city and of Syria was a dream, as it’s now with the ability to return.
“We did not dare to think about that Assad might fall as a result of his presence was so anchored in us,” mentioned the 26-year-old.
“My largest dream was to return to Syria at a second like this after 13 years of battle, simply because it was my largest dream in 2017 to depart for a brand new life,” mentioned the award-winning photographer who has spent the previous couple of years protecting the migrant disaster for AFP’s Lille bureau in northern France.
“I left after I was 19,” mentioned Sameer, all of whose rapid household are in exile, other than his sister.
– Mates ‘killed or disappeared’ –
“That is my house, all my recollections are right here, my childhood, my adolescence. I spent my life in Douma on this home my household needed to flee and the place my cousin now lives.
“The home hasn’t modified, though the highest flooring was destroyed within the bombardments.
“The sitting room continues to be the identical, my father’s beloved library hasn’t modified. He would quiet down there each morning to learn the books that he had collected over time — it was extra necessary to him than his youngsters.
“I went searching for my childhood stuff that my mom saved for me however I couldn’t discover it. I do not know if it exists anymore.
“I have not discovered any consolation right here, maybe as a result of I have not discovered anybody from my household or individuals I used to be near. Some have left the nation and others had been killed or have disappeared.
“Individuals have been by way of a lot during the last 13 years, from the peaceable protests of the revolution, to the battle and the siege after which being compelled into exile.
“My recollections are right here however they’re related to the battle which began after I was 13. What I lived by way of was arduous, and what acquired me by way of was my household and pals, and they’re not right here.
“The city has modified. I keep in mind the bombed buildings, the rubble. As we speak life has gone again to a type of regular because the city waits for individuals to return.”
– Teenage reporter –
Douma was besieged by Assad’s forces from the tip of 2012, with Washington blaming his forces for a chemical assault within the area that left greater than 1,400 individuals useless the next yr.
Sameer’s profession as a photojournalist started when he and his brothers started taking photographs of what was occurring round them.
“After the faculties closed I began to exit filming the protests with my brothers right here in entrance of the primary mosque, the place the primary demonstration in Douma was held after Friday prayers, and the place the primary funerals of the victims had been additionally held.
“I arrange my digital camera on the primary flooring of a constructing which overlooks the mosque after which modified my garments afterwards so I might not be recognised and arrested. Filming the protests was banned.
“When the safety forces attacked, I might take the SIM card out of my cellphone and the reminiscence card out of my digital camera and put them in my mouth.”
That manner he might swallow them if he was caught.
In Might 2017, Sameer fled by way of a tunnel dug by the rebels and finally discovered himself within the northern insurgent enclave of Idlib with former fighters and their households.
– Belonging –
“I took the title Sameer al-Doumy (Sameer from Douma) to affirm that I belonged someplace,” though he was exiled, he mentioned. “I finished utilizing my first title, Motassem, to guard my household dwelling in Damascus.
“In France I’ve a contented and secure life. I’ve a household, pals and a job. However I’m not rooted to any explicit place. Once I went again to Syria, I felt I had a rustic.
“If you end up overseas, you get used to the phrase ‘refugee’ and also you get on together with your life and make an enormous effort to combine in a brand new society. However your nation stays the place that accepts you as you’re. You do not have to show something.
“Once I left Syria, I by no means thought sooner or later I might be capable of return. When the information broke, I could not imagine it. It was unimaginable Assad might fall. Numerous individuals are nonetheless in shock and are afraid. It’s arduous to get your head round how a regime that stuffed individuals with a lot worry might collapse.
“Once I returned to the Al-Midan district of Damascus (which had lengthy resisted the regime), I couldn’t cease myself crying.
“I’m unhappy to not be with my family members. However I do know they may return, even when it takes some time.
“My dream now’s that sooner or later we’ll all come collectively once more in Syria.”
