SCRIPT: “How to Survive War: Cynthia Edition”

Salma Elnahas

March 2020

This is an audio documentary that aims to portray an overlooked effect of the Syrian war on

Syrians featuring Cynthia Addoumeih, a Syrian citizen and a student at AUBG whose life,

just like most other Syrians, changed in several aspects due to the war.

Cynthia Addoumieh was in Syria in 2011 when the pro-democracy protests changed into

armed clashes. The college student, now at the American University in Bulgaria, AUBG,

talks about how the war impacted her life.

CYNTHIA ADDOUMEIH (CA): “Hey, my name is Cynthia Addoumeih. I am from

Aleppo, Syria, one of the most destroyed cities because of the civil war.” (:10)

Cynthia was only 13 years old at that time, and the war affected her life in several ways.

CA: “Maybe the hardest part for me from the war was that I had to leave my house,

unexpectedly, without even having a chance to pack or say goodbye to my friends.”

(:11)

Eventually, her parents left Aleppo and went to Lebanon, each of her siblings went to his

university, so her sister went to Damascus and her brother went to Bulgaria, but Cynthia went

with her aunt to Tartous, a city that is about 250 km away from Damascus, to take some

official exams. After the exams, she joined her parents.

CA: “And then later on I went to live with my parents in Lebanon, not actually my

parents, only my mother, my father had left to somewhere else by that time.” (:11)

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Afterwards, she, and her entire family, went back to Tartous, where she was living with her

parents and her two siblings for the first time since the war started.

CA: “So after three years I just had the feeling of what it is like to grow up with a

family, how it is like to have dinner with your whole family or like talk to your

siblings not through camera, or being able to see your parents every day.” (:15)

According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are currently 5.6 million Syrian refugees and 6.6

million more are displaced inside the country. That is, 70% of the Syrian population is

displaced forcibly.

Cynthia now is in a small town in Bulgaria studying Journalism and Mass Communication,

living away from her beloved country and family.

CA: “I am sure that if I haven’t left because of the war I would still be living in Syria

until this day and I would be happy. I am sure I would be happy.” (:11)

Cynthia says the instability of the past few years comes with a cost, perhaps an overlooked

one.

CA: “So maybe the main effect of war on me was being separated from my family and

losing the advantage of growing up with them.” (:08)

Salma Elnahas, A-U-C Radio.

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 Sources

https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/syria/

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/syria-population/

https://www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War