Cynthia Addoumieh 0:01

Hi.

Salma Elnahas 0:03

Hello, can you please tell me your name? Your full name.

Cynthia Addoumieh 0:06

My name is Cynthia Addoumieh. I'm 21 years old from Aleppo, Syria.

Salma Elnahas 0:14

Okay. Where do you live now?

Cynthia Addoumieh 0:18

Currently, I've been living in Blagoevgrad, in Bulgaria for three years now.

Salma Elnahas 0:26

Do you go to college there?

Cynthia Addoumieh 0:30

Yeah, I am a Junior first in the American University in Bulgaria majoring in journalism and

mass communication.

Salma Elnahas 0:40

Okay, so, can you tell me how old were you when the war started in Syria?
Cynthia Addoumieh 0:48

So when the war started in Syria as a whole country I was 12 but when the war started in my

city, I was 13 years old.

Salma Elnahas 1:01

And how exactly did this affect your life immediately? The immediate effect.

Cynthia Addoumieh 1:09

I mean, it basically, I think, changed the whole path of my life. I think I wouldn't be here, I

wouldn't be the person I am today, if the war hadn’t happened. For someone so young that

just started a life that is outside of childhood and just started their teenage years that had to

leave their country without any notice or even being able to say goodbye to anyone, or

getting to see my friends again or lost my family atmosphere because each one of us was

living in a different country at some point. So I think it created the person I am today, it

shaped my personality.

Salma Elnahas 1:52

Which is? In your own words?

Cynthia Addoumieh 1:57

I think independent, very independent. sensitive, I would say, because at some point, any

event that could happen, you know, could affect you a lot at that age. And when you hear

about those things when you're still a teenager based on noise, it upsets you when you

become more sensitive, I would say. And I mean, it taught me to adapt. It taught me to be

open minded and taught me to change, like, as well. That's maybe the only good outcome I
got out of it. Being open minded and adapting because you know, when you have to move

your city and your country, you're going to have to adapt wherever you go, and people are not

going to be like you. You're gonna have to be more like them and understand them.

Salma Elnahas 2:59

Yes. Exactly. That's a good thing to have, to be able to be open minded and adapt to people

around.

Cynthia Addoumieh 3:08

Yeah, at least one good outcome.

Salma Elnahas 3:11

Okay, you said that you had to live in different countries or cities, like away from your

parents? Where exactly were they and where exactly were you?

Cynthia Addoumieh 3:23

So, when the war started in Syria, my family was pretty sure that it wouldn’t reach my city

and when it reached my city, it wouldn’t reach the center, it will be in the countryside or

something. So we left typically like nothing is happening for our annual vacation to Bulgaria.

Later on, we got stuck here. My siblings left to their universities so I was left with my

parents. We went to Lebanon on later on. And my father had to leave us. I was only with my

Mother and my grandma in Lebanon for a year. Then I moved back with my whole family to

a city in Syria called Tartous, which is a safe city in Syria, this might be shocking. But yes,

there are safe places in Syria where people live, where they haven't been affected by war.

And they don't even know how bombs sound like. So we lived there together, but we were
still away from my brother and my sister. Later on, my sister joined us. So I never had the

sense of family. And I always had to adapt to people because everyone was from a different

background from a different culture, even though it's a city in Syria, people are not the same.

In different cities you have to adapt to the way they think, to the how they act, to their

culture, to the background, same thing in Lebanon. And then eventually, when I graduated

from school, I had to come to Bulgaria. So, I was living yeah detached from my family and

adapting to a new atmosphere.

Salma Elnahas 5:06

A very different atmosphere, I would say.

Cynthia Addoumieh 5:08

Yeah, I mean, Western and Middle Eastern. We don’t I agree on a lot of things. But I would

say I did a good job.

Salma Elnahas 5:17

Yes. Okay. And would you go back to Syria after you finish your studies?

Cynthia Addoumieh 5:28

I might have gone back to Syria before I started my major. But now that I'm majoring in

journalism, I wouldn't go back to Syria because media is extremely controlled by the

government and I wouldn't be pursuing what my dream is, you know what, why I'm studying

journalism to portray the truth and to show people the truth and inform people and I wouldn't

be able to do that. So, no, I wouldn't go back to Syria even though I would love to be able to
live with my family and the people I love and with my friends and be close to my culture and

where I was born and raised, but it's not an option for me anymore.

Salma Elnahas 6:13

Okay, and does the war have any thing to do with your decision?

Cynthia Addoumieh 6:19

For sure, if there was no war in Syria, I would be still living in Syria there were, there would

be no option for me, would I go back or no. And I think I wouldn't be even studying

journalism. And this is why I meant that this war shaped the person I am today and my

mentality in my opinion.

Salma Elnahas 6:39

Okay, thank you so much, Cynthia. I hope we meet again.

Cynthia Addoumieh 6:44

Yes, thank you for having this little interview with me.

Salma Elnahas 6:48

Thank you for your time. Bye

Cynthia Addoumieh 6:51

Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai