(ANS - Rome)– “Here in Damascus, we are spoiled! We are without electricity for six hours a day. We will run out of fuel in about a week. We have enough flour for two or three weeks. But we are lucky! It's much worse elsewhere. In Aleppo they have been without water and electricity for two or three months.” That is the situation in Syria as reported by an eye-witness.

by Gian Francesco Romano

Our source reports that after three-and-a-half years, "objectively the situation is a bit worse than before, but the subjective experience of the people is serene because life has to go on." In practice, when you are used to something worse, things somehow seem a bit better. "Three years ago, if two or three mortars were fired, schools were closed for a few days and people talked about nothing else. Now there might be twenty  bombs a day, but people know they have to keep going.”

The fear of death hangs over the entire population in a city where everyone has lost at least one loved one. For young men the critical moment is when they receive the call to military service. "Joining the army means you have something like a 60% chance of dying, and otherwise leading a terrible life. Recently, a new law was passed for the recall of reservists. Since the beginning of the war there has been no possibility of leaving the army. Many young people and their families have a growing desire to run away. But it is not easy! Those who could escape have already done so. Those who are still here were the ones who had no opportunity to escape."

All of this also affects neighboring Lebanon. "It's the only way out of Syria. Turkey and Jordan are well nigh impossible and Iraq is even worse ... but Lebanon has four million inhabitants, how can it accommodate more than a million refugees?".

The Salesians try to give hope to the young people. "Since the outbreak of the war the young people coming to us have changed a lot. Previously we had around 250 children. Now it is more dangerous tryimg to get here so we have mostly older youth and university students, about 500 in total, all Christians."

There are different levels of involvement. "We do catechism for all and we organize courses in sports, theatre, music and design. There are about 120 young people who want to get more involved especially through the Salesian Youth Movement and other organizations. They are the leaders of the various courses. They have started a number of initiatives, such as a football tournament between the Christian parishes and a musical inspired by the five Salesian martyrs of Poznan. This helped us to reflect on how to live as Christians and Salesians in time of war. Finally, about fifteen of these young people have entered a process of individual discernment."

It is not easy to cultivate hope among these young people. However, as we see from the life of Don Bosco, the solution lies with the young people themselves. "Everyone here has had a crisis of faith, but those who have finally opened their hearts to God have undergone a purification and now their faith is strong. Once they have gone through this whole process, they can do a great deal."

Published 21/11/2014