Good evening, my name is Yasmien Abdul Azeem. I am 28 years old, and I am from Syria, which is a country where violence, fear, and forced exodus are everywhere. Our life had been quiet, then, suddenly the war started and when it started, hell opened its doors to receive a lot of victims. We lived like that for two years: the voices of bombs and mortar were the only music that was daily heard; we had to get used to that, plus the high prices of groceries, the rising cost of living, the interruption of electricity, the kidnapping of people, the arrest of men, the cries of children for the death of their parents and hunger .... in short, we lived a very hard life and we fought to get the only thing worth living for: peace; a peace that is based on justice!
We were looking for peace because it is a different color than black. Peace is like a bright little star on a night and surely peace is the most beautiful thing in the world! In 2014, we fled Syria after our home was bombed and burned by bombs ... we arrived in Lebanon, and rented a garage where we lived for two years ... Until we found out that my daughter, F., who is now eight and a half years old, had a tumor in her eye. Hence, we had the surgery at the American hospital of the University of Beirut... that day was the hardest in my life; it was 28/12/2015 .... after the surgery, we had to do chemotherapy, and thanks to the project of "humanitarian corridors," the Community of Sant'Egidio learned about our life and particularly knew the story of my daughter F. The Community helped us to come here to Italy, to treat F. immediately, and to build a better future in peace and with humanity. It was February 4, 2016!
We were the first family to come to Italy with this initiative. A year passed and, during this year, I attended the Italian language and culture school of the Community of Sant'Egidio with its very good teachers, who helped me. They also aided me to enroll myself at the University of Reggio Calabria and I’m majoring in Mediators for Intercultural and Social Cohesion in Europe.
I am so interested in this course because circumstances did not allow me to continue my study in Syria...
I would like to thank the Community of Sant'Egidio and the University of Reggio Calabria because they allow us to build again our future and the future of my two children who now go to school and are doing well. This occurred thanks to the support of his Holiness Pope Francis and of God. Now we can say that "our hands are in a more human world."
Thank you
