Syrian expat Mohannad Esper writes:
"Diaries of an Expatriate Alawite
My mother, a retired teacher in her sixties, refused to leave and live with us in exile. She told me back then, "Son, an old tree cannot be replanted in new soil."
Today, over the phone, she was calm. She said, "Inshallah, I will meet my Lord as a faithful, content martyr—right in front of my home, beneath my olive trees, just like the Palestinian women. I am not sad for myself; I have lived my life and prepared my grave next to your late father. What breaks my heart is the young people, the families, the children—relatives and friends who now entrust me with their little ones, in case they survive."
My childhood friend, the geography teacher, told me he couldn't hide in the wilderness and leave his elderly parents behind. He would rather die with them than live knowing he had abandoned them.
They were all calm—no tears, no emotional or sectarian words. Just waiting for their fate in their homes.
Before hanging up, my mother said one last thing:
"Promise me, son—never return to Syria."
Ya Allah💔
