The loss of your house, your job, your home, even losing your husband to depression – for many people, this would be enough to lose hope. But 67-year-old Nazek from Irbin, Syria, remained hopeful! Thanks to your support, she started a new business.
Irbin is a large suburb outside Damascus. Its pre-war population in 2011 was around 70,000 including 970 Christians among the Islamic majority. It is located about 9 km from the old city of Damascus – a drive that is unimaginably heartbreaking. The buildings in the city are blown to the ground and entire neighbourhoods have been shattered.
In July of 2012, Irbin came under fire. Militia forces took control of it, along with other cities around Damascus, and were met with resistance from the government. Irbin was caught in the middle, enduring shelling and bombardment.
Nazek Shehadeh remembers that day. “We – brethren from the church – immediately contacted each other and gathered in a basement belonging to the Saint Georgios church with around 100 people. The shelter was right underneath our building so between the strikes I would run up to my home and bring the necessary items like a first aid kit, water, food and supplies to cook for everyone,” Nazek says.
“Everyone was in a state of panic and fear. In the early evening the rebels said that all inhabitants of Irbin had only ten minutes to leave. People started crying, shouting in fear and rushing out of the shelter to pack their valuable things and flee. I saw a little boy in our building, around eight or nine of age. I asked him ‘Where is your mother? Why are you alone here?’ He replied, ‘I don’t know’. I took him with me and just before I wanted to enter the car with him, his mother came running and crying to us. She was overwhelmed by relief when she saw that her son was safe.”
‘God will not leave us’
Nazek
“I had to be strong, I love people and I had to support them. I used to comfort them and say, ‘We are going to get through this, don’t be afraid, God will not leave us.”
Nazek’s husband was heartbroken after they fled Irbin, having lost their house, his job, their car, and all their earnings. As homeless people they arrived in Damascus and stayed at the house of her mother. “My husband was in shock. He couldn’t accept the change. He fell into depression. I used to wake up at night hearing him crying. I tried to comfort him, but he was hopeless. Truthfully not just my husband but most Christian men from Irbin went through the same breakdown after the bombing.”
For six years Irbin was under the control of the rebels, until finally the Syrian Army. The place was deserted of its original inhabitants. In March 2018, the Syrian Army in cooperation with the Russian forces got control again.
Although married women in Syria usually don’t have a job outside their home, Nazek realized her husband couldn’t provide for his family anymore. She had a dream of opening a shop in Irbin, but she needed money to start such a business. Through her church, she sent in a project-proposal to our local partner in Syria. She asked for money to open a shop for formal women’s wear. When her proposal was accepted, Nazek found a place to rent and in May 2020 opened the shop in her beloved suburb.
She worked hard on her own to get the shop ready. “During the cold weather I would come to Irbin to prepare the shop. I had to change two different buses to arrive here, I would wait in the rain and the cold, but I knew that it needed patience and I had to be strong to get through the process of the preparation. Thank God He blessed my efforts.”
Today, Nazek is full of hope and energy. She might serve a cup of coffee with a smile on her face, enthusiastically sharing about the beautiful dresses she displays.
“I have dresses to rent for women who can’t afford to buy dresses for formal occasions, especially nowadays with the economic crisis, the majority of woman would not buy a dress at a very high price just to wear it only once for a wedding or a celebration. Renting helps them to look good and save money. I sew, repair and alter clothes for people.”
It wasn’t an easy start. “Unfortunately, last year due to COVID-19 there was not much of work to do. I got infected with the virus and had to stay at home and not work for a while. This year thank God it’s becoming much better and people are coming to my shop from the neighbouring villages as well.”
Her faith has helped her. Nazek says, “Prayer is the source of my hope. The peace I get when I am in church strengthens me, and this gives me internal comfort and optimism for the future.”
Irbin is a mainly Muslim area. Only two Christian families so far returned to the place since it became safe again. Sometimes Nazek is confronted with how Christians are seen by the people around. “Two months after I opened the shop, a boy at the age of maybe 9 or 10 years old came up to me and asked me ‘Do you go outside like this without hijab (scarf on your head)?’ I said ‘Yes, why?’ He then said, ‘because you’re going to hell.’ The boy was reflecting the beliefs of his community. I know I have to put up with this side of our culture and live with it especially here in Irbin.”
Nazek is one of the beneficiaries of the income generating projects Open Doors supported through our local partners. In 2019 and 2020 we have seen our strongest investment in helping individuals and families rebuild their lives through livelihood projects. We invested in 1,734 income generating projects, helping many others like Nazek start a shop, a restaurant, small factory, a workshop or supporting them with investments in their agricultural activities.
The destruction in Irbin is huge but the joy and hope that the Christians of Irbin have is even greater. They love their home and they are determined to rebuild it, keep it alive and save the presence of the church in it through them and their children.