From Cyprus to the Citadel

By Lindsay

We were fortunate to go on holiday last month, taking a week of ‘R&R’ in Cyprus and 2 weeks annual leave back home in Nottingham. After travelling from Aleppo to Damascus, we crossed the border into Lebanon by road, and had a lovely afternoon, evening and morning in Beirut before flying to Larnaca. Beirut is beautiful! A hilly city on the coast, with snow-capped mountains in the background, and we were really delighted to enjoy some sunny and warm weather after the chill of Aleppo. The history is reflected in the architecture – with a lot of new, very smart skyscrapers along the coast, interlaced with bullet-ridden buildings, a legacy of the civil war in the 1980s, which have long since been abandoned.

Cyprus was wonderful – we spent the first few days in Nicosia wandering around the town straddling the Green Line between the Greek and Turkish sides of the island. Steve found his long-awaited really good pint of beer, and we both ate as many pork products as we could find! One day, we ventured up to Kyrenia in the Turkish half for a windy walk around the harbour. In January, it seems half of the island is under refurb awaiting the influx of tourists later on in the year, so we found few cafes that were open and had to navigate various road works that were ongoing in the narrow, old streets. During the second half of the week, we went to Paphos for 4 days by the sea, resting, wandering to and around the harbour, and visiting some Roman sites. It really was ‘R&R’.

At home, we saw lots of friends and some family, did ‘normal’ things, and really enjoyed reconnecting with our other life. Upon reflection (and probably obviously), it is quite quiet for us in Aleppo in terms of relationships. While we have a couple friends who work for other organisations, we have to maintain a little distance with colleagues. Most of the international staff with Medair live in Damascus, and while we connect with them regularly online, it is not the same. It was really wonderful to go home and sink back into some good, long-term friendships. And it was an absolute joy walking around the supermarkets!

When we returned on 10th Feb, we joined all our colleagues at an annual workshop in Damascus. It was lovely to meet colleagues working in the Deir ez-Zor team in the east of the country, and to reconnect with a lot of the Damascus team who we have met before. Damascus feels a world away from Aleppo, and it was a soft start! We headed back up to Aleppo later that week, and walked into a few challenges in the activities our teams are leading, and some personnel issues. So we hope the upcoming days and months will become brighter as solutions are found and decisions are made to ensure the people we are here to serve receive the help they need.

After months of waiting, we were able to visit the Aleppo Citadel which was closed for over a year after sustaining earthquake damage. It was fantastic to walk inside and see the ancient structures, such as an amphitheatre and hamam (bathing rooms). There is an impressive throne room, prayer rooms and some helpful guides on hand to offer to take a photo. The views over the city are really something, and when we visited it was during the Friday lunchtime prayers, so there was a cacophony of singing over loudspeakers from various mosques. 

We are now into our seventh month of our year long contract, so beginning to think about what we may do afterwards. While we love Medair and really value the ethos and heartbeat of the organisation, we don’t think we will look to carry on working with them after July. At the moment, we are looking forward to coming home to Nottingham, although we don’t know too much yet about future jobs. I have been doing some lessons with a Career Coach to help me understand more about what kind of work will be good to get into. After lots of years working for charities and with a church, I wonder if it is time for a change! We will see what comes up… For Steve, he has realised that engineering probably is his preferred field – he may just need to think more about the specifics of his role.

But there is still 5 months in Syria! It is an honour to live here, to know people here, to try out our terrible Arabic, and to sense what God may be doing here. Initially, it was easy to focus on the destruction and damage around Aleppo, trying to imagine the terrible days of the civil war when the front line was running through the city. But latterly, I’ve been thanking God that this part of the country is now at peace, that life relentless continues, and people look forward to the future. There are tons of challenges here – really big stuff – and yet where there is life, there is hope.