The Murder of Trees

I am really proud of what they are doing to the narrow roads in town. This new planning and renovation of pavements and streets is making the city much more sophisticated and modern. This perhaps have helped resolve the traffic problem we are facing. It is really fascinating how the architecture of streets is becoming like "Paris"!! Wide roads with pretty sidewalks to promenade on!!

Who cares how the old roads looked like? Who cares what happened to the old trees laying on both sides of the road? That just doesn't matter. The trees were only another block on the way. We simply had to cut them down. It just doesn’t matter how many years will it take to grow other trees.

What do you need trees for anyway? They are only for decoration and for that we have nice blocks and rocks… just like modern cities. You really don't need to see any green plants anymore. You don't need to walk under a green line of trees anymore. Can't you find another romantic place to stroll on with your loved one? You don't need to feel the nature around you to make you breath the clean air. If you need oxygen, wear an oxygen mask!

Just walk on these new paved sidewalks. Drive your car faster down this six-lanes road.
Be proud! You are living in a civilized sophisticated city now!

Friend

A Friend of mine advised me today that I should ease the tone in which I write. He said that my language is too harsh and I should be more gentle when I attempt to speak about issues related to our country. To say the truth, I've been hearing this a lot recently so perhaps its true.

I love my country more than anything. I am not criticizing a person or a party. All what concerns me is that not always developmental or reform plans achieve the purpose for which originally it was created. All plans have objectives and goals, but these same objectives do not come through because somewhere along the implementation process something goes wrong and the whole plan falls apart because of miss-organization between the different parties involved.

I like my Friend a lot. I appreciate everything he tells me and I really like his way of approaching mental issues. I even like the way he speaks softly and slowly in a rational sequential elegant manner.

I wish I could learn how to speak like that. I always get very impulsive and defensive when it comes to issues that I care about personally. I get so emotional sometimes to the extent that I do not let the other person speak up his opinion. I wish I could spend more time with him, maybe then I could grasp some of his calmness and wisdom.

What was a surprise for me today as well that he is just like me. I really admire his courage for raising his kids alone, the way he treats them is just amazing. I am glad I do not have any kids of my own. I don't think I would be able to raise them as such. It is a huge responsibility that really scares me.

Anyway, this is not what I want to write about. I want to write about my life here in Syria and about my country. But I promise my Friend that I will choose my words more wisely.

Sign the Petition to Stop the Destruction of Souk El Bzourieh

The Old City in Damascus is an essential part of our identity and history.
If the destruction of Souk El Bzourieh continues then nothing will remain of our beloved Damascus.

Please help me raise the issue to the concerned authorities, specifically the Ministry of Tourism.
Help by signing the following petition and by forwarding this message to all people you feel they care about perserving our Town.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-the-demolition-of-souk-el-bzourieh.html

If we manage to gather enough signatures then the list will be sent to the Minister of Tourism for him to reconsider the destruction order.

If you have any suggestions that might draw the attention to the matter, please feel free to act upon.

Let us not stand still and watch our City go down.

They will knock down Souk El Bzourieh!!

The demolition of Souk El Bzourieh is like annihilating our identity and erasing our history. Souk El Bzourieh is a historical monument, one of the most important souks of Old Damascus. If this one goes, it will beginning of the destruction of whole of Old Damascus. Soon enough there will be no Souk Hamidieh, no Citadelle and God knows what will happen with Omayyad Mosque.
They already started with Bab Charqi, Madhat Bacha, Al Manakhlieh and many others...

I cannot imagine how they sold the land of El Bzourieh to some touristic project. Tourists wouldn't care much to see a big mall instead of the charming little shops of El Bzourieh. This is absurd. We cannot let this happen.

As I write this my fingers are shaking from anger. I cannot imagine what will become of Damascus if these destructive actions continue. What will happen if we turn our backs and let them flatten our Old Town.

It is there where our identity lies. If the Old city goes, nothing of our true history will last. How can we explain to next generations that once instead of tall buildings and shopping malls we had little souks and small shops which people from around the globe came to see.

We need to stop them. I don't know how. But at least we need to do something and not stand still and watch our heritage go down.
We need to awaken people's awareness of the importance of such a place. I believe if we can get the media raise attention toward this catastrophe then the persons responsible of this decision would pause and think about public negative perception.

Rumors say that it was the Ministry of Tourism itself who sold the land to the investing company. We need to let our voice reaches the Minister then maybe he'll look into the matter.
I don't care if this sounds naïve or not. All I know is that something needs to be done.

We simply cannot let this happen. It will be like letting go of the last straw that we are hanging on to which is our true identity.

Please help me get this message through.
For all Syrians living outside Syria, please help us spread the word out.
For all Syrians living in Syria who manage to read this blog, please forward this message to all persons you deem can help stop this farce. Please suggest anything that might end these outrageous actions.

You can read the news on the following links:
http://www.tishreen.info/_default.asp?FileName=74721292720071224005042
http://www.syria-news.com/readnews.php?sy_seq=68049

And I don't know if signing a petition will truly help but we have to try everything, the link to the petition is here blow:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/15892.html

What do you think about Pollution in Damascus?

How do you feel to wake up everyday in a town where the pollution rates are higher than the oxygen rates??

As my office is on the last floor of a very high building, I get to see every morning this huge black fog enveloping the city. This thick heavy layer of pollution feels like its suffocating our beloved Cham.

Such a shame to see Damascus drowned in pollution where it was sometime in the history a city renowned of its incomparable nature and clean airs.

Is anybody doing something about it?
Removing buses and microbuses, which are producing the highest pollution, and replacing them with what...??
What people will use as transportation means? Will people afford to pay for alternatives if we eliminate Diesel?

Building a Metro in Damascus?? We all know that is highly impossible.. we all saw how much time it took them to build the tunnel on Omayad Place because of water levels and planning deficiencies!!

Are there any solutions really? All I know that if we continue this way, in a few years time, people will not be able to breath normally in Damascus.

What do you think about ATM services in Syria?

Walked into my company's designated bank the other day to apply for a new ATM card. Took a number and waited for my turn.
I told myself: "well.. it is better than fighting to get through to the counter like I used to do in the public sector's bank!".
As my turn came, the employee in charge of taking ATM card's applications gazed me with an I-am-master-of-banking-services look and gave me a four-pages application with a fancy pen.

As I filled out the endless application, each time I had to write my name in Arabic, I looked at the employee and told him: "I am going to write my name in English as well so you don't misspell it on the card" and I spelled it out loud from him as well several times.

I know I was a bit rough on the poor bank employee, but this time, I want my name correctly graved on my card. Not Ameera and not Kaddan like on my previous card. Only Amira Kaadan. Is it too much to ask for?

A week later, when I went to get the card. Surprisingly, engraved on it was the name Amera Kadan. Now here is a new way of writing my name!

Walked away knowing that to process another application to correct it will for sure take another week.

Large amounts of Syrian Liras are spent yearly by private banks in Syria to improve the skills of their employees and to train them on new systems and eventually provide high quality services for customers. Is it really paying off?

The whole Syrian society got very excited when private banks entered the market a few years ago hoping to break the monopoly of public sector banks offering low quality services, primitive products and customers mistreatment.

Especially when ATM cards got widely spread by almost all banks, (the service was previously launched by a national bank but with only few ATM machines in town), everybody anticipated that the problem of out-of-order machines will be resolved.

Today, if you want to cash your salary from an ATM machine at the end of the month, and that if you find one that it is actually working, you have to free up an hour of your time queuing because people don't trust anymore that the machine will still be working after as little as an hour.