Year 11.

Another March 15 passes. Another memory of the start of a revolution against tyranny. Although the war against the Syrian people still goes on today, most people have forgotten it is still happening. It is.

Something strange happened after the ten-year mark. Time warped and keeping count of anniversaries became harder. Keeping count of the list of dead friends, the massacres, the martyred heroes of the revolution, the years it’s been since you were home, of how many millions of children have grown up refugees, of how many have been born refugees. How to keep counting? How many years have your children known your homeland as a protest, as a symbol, as a place their parents are from, once removed. Always removed?

And now, our screens show a repeat of brutal destruction by a shared enemy. Towns being bombed from the sky, buildings with crumbling facades, masses of people fleeing with plastic bags filled with all they could carry, buses filled with mothers and children pressing their hands against the windows. A single frame can inflict a double trauma — a memory of what happened to Syria and a present of what is happening to others. This time, it’s the people of Ukraine.

Two years ago, I wrote in this space about a virus that threatened us all. About how resilience and immunity can only be found through collective action, through community. This is true as ever today. I hope that this time, the world awakens to the threat to us all. Turning away then was a sin, and it is still true today.

Today, Karam’s work is more vital than it was eleven years ago. It lives in the neighborhoods of forgotten people far from their homes, the young people left behind, and it gives them a chance to open doors of possibility. These lifelines of a brighter future have the power to build a better world than what we have today. In fact, investing in young people is our only hope.

Year 11. Sometimes it’s hard to hold on to the spirit of the revolution instead of sinking in the deep sorrow of loss. The young people at Karam House and around the world, who keep going despite the despair, remind me that we are capable of mourning our homeland, remembering our loss, and moving onward. And so always onward, we move.

Karam Foundation remembers the sacrifices of the Syrian people. We stand with the Ukrainian people and all peoples fighting for self-determination. May we all be able to return home one day to live in freedom, justice, and peace.

In solidarity, remembrance, and always hope,

Lina