Naciye Al-Hamdo, a teacher in Syria, lost her husband when the conflicts first broke out. During the civil war, her house was destroyed. When she could not do her job anymore, her salary was cut, and she had to come to Turkey.
Naciye Al-Hamdo: I live in Hamdaniyah Neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria. I am a mother of one child. I am 27 years old and a teacher.
ORSAM: Could you tell us about your life before the civil war in Syria, what you went through during the civil war and the reasons why you came to Turkey?
Naciye Al-Hamdo: My husband Mervan Karim Al-Hamdo was killed during the first bombardment on Aleppo. Our house was also destroyed during the aforesaid bombardment. Lots of people from our family were killed as a result of this attack. Our family members live away from one another, and also they have a small income. It was too difficult to be a widow woman in Syria even before those events. Since the civil war broke out, it has turned into a complete nightmare. I tried to live in a half-destroyed house with no electricity and water. But then I took shelter in our neighbors. The neighbors hosted me for a while. However, due to worse living conditions and food shortage, people started to live from hand to mouth. The school where I worked was in another neighborhood. I could no more go to school for fear of being attacked, and thus my salary was cut. Along with my son, I took 150 thousand SYP we saved with my husband, packed our clothes and moved to Idlib with another family from Aleppo. We settled in Sermada Village which is close to border in Idlib, and we stayed there for 2 months. When the internal conflict and robbery started in Sermada as well, we had no no more security of life and my honor was under threat. We found a guide in order to pass the wire-mesh in the borderline. I gave 10 thousand SYP to the guide. He brought us to Hatay-Reyhanlı-Cilvegözü road. In Reyhanlı, there were mostly those who came from Idlib. There is a limited number of people from Aleppo. Therefore, there is no one I know. I hardly found a rent house. I have a bed, a mattress, carpet and kitchen utensils, that's all. On the other hand, I only have 2000 TL left in my pocket. Neighbors helped me. They met some of my needs, and brought food. But this situation hurt my pride. And I started to work as a cleaner to earn money. I was a teacher back in Syria, now I am a cleaner in Turkey. Eventually I applied to stay in tent cities. I pray to God to be accepted in tent city before winter comes.
*This interview was made by Feyyat Özyazar in Reyhanlı district of Hatay, on 20 November 2012..
