(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian storyteller, Rima al-Khattab, recounts in her first work, "Under the Olive Trees," the sorrow of the displaced in Syrian camps, their suffering and tears.
The forty-two-story collection chronicles the stories of people who had left an impact on her. She narrates the suffering of Syrian women bereaved and desolate. Women who lost their husbands and their children to prisons, and their struggle for survival.
In 2012, after the start of the revolution, Rima was displaced from Hama northern countryside due to daily shelling, and a new phase of her life began in the camps. She had refused the idea of leaving her home and village, especially since the camps on the Turkish border did not have the most basic necessities of life.
Despite her health condition, Rima volunteered at the Fingerprint Hope Center for Special Needs to help her peers.
The young writer explained that the characters are based on real people and real experiences. However, she has taken some liberties and added expanded on events using her imagination.
Eight years of war in Syria have killed 560,000 people and driven half the pre-war population of 22 million from their homes, including more than 6 million as refugees to neighbouring countries.
Zaman Al Wasl
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