Adra: Where Death was Defeated

We gathered in that small cozy room. Every one of us descended from a different city of Syria, that was repeatedly classified by the opposition media as either the birthplace of the so-called revolution or a place that should be punished for not supporting that madness called “Arab Spring”.

There, she came along, a four-year old angel. I asked about her name, she whispered “Mariam”. That whispering was not a sign of politeness. It was rather a style of talking imposed over them during days of besiege so hyenas will not find out their hiding place.

With a bashful smile ,she sat next to her injured mum who has recently escaped from a hell known as “Adra”.
According to SANA the industrial town of around 20,000 people was captured by “armed terrorist groups affiliated to Jabhat al Nusra” on Wednesday 11 December.
Civilians were murdered by what Adra residents called “the decapitators”, sources reported.

The mother started to document the saga they went through “they had lists of inhabitants’ names, they asked about people’s religious sect and their political stance. They were foreigners speaking formal Arabic.”
The foreigners were actually offending the citizens, killing them, mutilating their bodies, even decapitating them.

I was listening to the brave woman and waiting for any natural reaction from Mariam that would match the horror being told. Yet, Mariam only held the blanket tight to her tiny body . Maybe “cold” was the only thing she remembered from that catastrophe, more than stories about kids holding clovers or monsters slaughtering people or shoving them into oven.

Mariam is still too young to realize the meaning of life and death. After a while, the savior of Mariam’s family entered the room. He did not match the stereotypical image of his “rebellious” city painted by the shameless media channels. In spite the overwhelming atmosphere of death, the savior’s laughing face was the first clue of how death was defeated in Adra.

“I was standing on a small hill distracting snipers from you.” That Syrian man realized that hill was nothing but dead bodies stacked on top of each other. That revelation did not turn him into a monster like his enemy nor a weak opponent to death.

Death spread everywhere motivated the savior to help his neighbor escape from the city stormed by the so-called freedom fighters.
“I decided to run away with my family, I will never wait for them to slaughter me or my kids. Monsters will not impose death over us.”
While sipping coffee, I heard Mariam saying “I’m not hungry.”

I am not sure whether she was not really hungry or days of besiege have trained her to different nutrition habits based on sharing food with neighbors so hunger will not be another reason for death besides slaughtering.
On their way out of hell, an old lady could not make it and she died. Her daughter decided to beat death her way. She buried her mother on the side of the road and went on to reach the life her late mother was trying to live.

Mariam kept looking at us to assure herself that we were not the same strangers harboring treachery for her and many in the shelter during their saga.
It was a rainy cold night, yet that warm room was full of stories about how death was defeated. Heroes of these stories were either telling us about their victory or they had reached heavens to celebrate it. It was the last day of 2013, I was closing the door and looking at Mariam. She was brushing her golden hair and her beautiful blue eyes were shining of a thousand words ” we are safe now”.

Source: Alahednews