April 2007

A baby girl called Ahlam was born on April 17, 1946. The infant, born with a sparkle in her eye, had magnificent Oriental beauty and a smile that simply, would not go away. She came from a wealthy and prestigious family that boasted of heritage and traced its roots back to the beginning of civilization. The hardships of life, however, made Ahlam age quickly. Very unwillingly, she stopped breast feeding early, and learned to walk during her sixth month. She had to talk by the age of one.

hey are a country’s crystal ball, and through them, one can see what tomorrow is going to be. We have all the good reasons to look forward to a better tomorrow, and every month we talk to one of those good reasons. Most heirs to family business are forced to follow their father’s example while putting their own dreams and passions on hold. Well the story is quite different in Karim Tabah’s case. The decision to let down interesting job offers in the UK and joining Nasco Group in Damscus was entirely his own; driven by a keen desire to discover the challenges and potentials of a controversial country; his own Syria. The vice president at the Nasco Group that is active in petroleum services, agricultural services, medical services and exhibitions, and the marketing manger of two of its sub branches, namely the Syrian Medical Services and the Allied Expo, you might think that 27 years old Karim Tabbah has bitten more than he can chew. Yet the young man’s enthusiasm goes beyond career and reaches community services and social involvement. Tabbah is an active member in three NGO; The Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association (SYEA), The Social Forum (Al Muntada aIjtimaii), and The Syrian Environment Association. Tabah left Damascus in 1996 to study Man-agement at the Royal Holloway University of London. There he experienced the dynamics of a real cultural diversity and dwelled in a real multicultural melting pot with students from around the world. Later he moved to the London School of Economics and Political Science and earned a Master Degree in Accounting & Finance in 2001.

Ulfat al-Idilbi was born in Damascus in November 1912. She got married young, at the age of 17, to Dr Hamdi al-Idilbi in 1929 and began writing stories while in her teens, publishing her first masterpiece “Al-Qarar al-Akheer” (The Final Decision) in 1946. Her husband, a German-educated doctor, fostered her talent and encouraged her to develop it. During World War II, she joined the al-Zahra Literary Saloon in Damascus and founded a literary magazine that never saw the light, because French authorities refused to give her a license. In 1945, she became a member of the Women’s Literary Club in Syria. In 1947, the BBC Arabic broadcast station chose her first novel as the best Arabic storybook of the year. In the early 1950s, she contributed regularly to the Egyptian magazine “al-Risala.” In 1954, Idilbi published a collection of short stories on the lifestyle of Damascenes entitled, “Qisas Shamiyya” (Damascene Stories). She wrote about the various methods of life, dialect, work, and social customs in Damascus. Her uncle, the writer Kazem al-Daghastani brought her under his patronage and introduced her to prominent literary figures in Syria and Lebanon. She began to attend literary forums in Damascus and was a com-mon speaker at the women’s right forum of Thuraya al-Hafez, which was popular in the years 1953-1963. Idilbi also wrote articles in daily newspapers, and appeared at literary salons in Beirut to market her books. In 1963, making use of her first success, Ulfat al-Idilbi published her second book “Wada’an Ya Dimashq” (Farewell Damascus), which was a bestseller in Syria and Lebanon as well. It was the story of how much Damascus had changed since the 1920s, with the influx of foreigners, and the rapid development and modernization. In 1980, she wrote her bestseller “Dimashq Ya Basmat al-Hozn” (Damascus the Smile of Sadness). It was a huge success and was translated into English under the title Sabriya: Damascus Bitter Sweet in 1996. It was adopted into screen by Syrian Television, and the 15-episode series made Ulfat al-Idilbi a household name in Syria. The book tells the story of Sabriya, a young girl growing up in Damascus in the 1920s. She is tormented by her conservative surrounding that treats her as subordinate because of her gender. She is passionately committed to the nationalist cause, especially when a military uprising breaks out in Syria against the French in 1925, but is unable to take part in nationalist activity, again, because she is a woman. She seeks political freedom, and rebellion against the French, but that too is off-limits to her in Damascus, because she is a woman. Sabriya says, “My country-men demand freedom, but cannot even give it to one another. Half of the nation remains bound by chains imposed by you men!” Sabriya’s life is filled with hardship and humiliation, imposed on her because she lives in a patriarchal, gender-segregated, and male dominated society. She had been forced to abandon her dreams—and romances—to live the life of an ordinary woman in Damascus. Love is prohibited for Sabriya. She has two brothers, one who feels compassionate, while the other treats her badly. After her father dies, Sabriya sells an antique carpet from her family mansion in the Old City, and uses the money to pay for his extravagant funeral. She hires poets, dervish dances, lute, and fine catering, along with the best of Oriental sweets. At first glance, the homage seems to be for her dead father. The next morning, however, she is found hanging from a lemon tree, amid roses and jasmine, in the courtyard of her family’s Damascus mansion. Sabriya apparently had held the exquisite funeral for herself—rather than her father—to celebrate the end of her life. Her life leads her into despair, and she takes pleasure only by ending it at will. Idilbi created a complex character in Sabriya, who struggles in life, despite monumental difficulties, then retreats to suicide in defeat. The Financial Times reviewed the novel saying: “Sabriya is a haunting, accomplished novel about the lives of women in 1920’s Syria. Idilbi’s stately prose is relentless in its exposure of Sabriya’s despair... [This novel] reveals Ulfat Idilbi as the possessor of a singular, passionate voice which is all her own.”

From the wonders and spectacles of the Middle East, Hala Gorani brings the humane side of every story to light and puts the world’s greatest events in perspective. Based in Atlanta and endlessly lying from one place to another, 37- years old Gorani coanchors CNN International’s ‘Your World Today’ with Jim Clancy and hosts ‘Inside the Middle East’, a half-hour monthly program that features stories on the most important social and cultural is-sues in the region. She has lived and breathed the journalistic scene for well over a decade, making a name for herself through her neutral coverage of stories in a way that always touched viewers on different levels. From Beirut to Gaza, from Baghdad to Mecca, Gorani has reported from almost every country in the Middle East, and was one of the first television reporters on the air when al-Qaeda suicide bombers attacked hotels in Jordan in November 2005.

According to the Syrian Ministry of Expatriate Affairs, there are 17 million Syrians in the Diaspora. There are 770,000 Syrians living in the United States and an impressive 18,000 practicing doctors in Germany. They emigrated in large numbers at different intervals of Syria’s modern history, mainly, during World War I and more recently, during the union years with Egypt (1958-1961). The “local” Syrians have always been proud of fellow Syrians who made big names for themselves in the Arab World. They include the singer Farid al-Atrash and his sister Asmahan—who became giants of modern Arabic music—the actress Souad Husni, and her sister the singer Najat al-Saghira. They are also very proud of Syrian names who reached inter-national acclaim, like the poet Nizar Qabbani, the actor Duraid Lahham, the singer Sabah Fakhri, and the Hollywood producer and director Mustapha al-Akkad. Everybody knew, however, that these celebrities were Syrian. They were proud to say it, at every interview, performance, or occasion. They remained, despite fame and fortune, very proud Syrians. There are other Syrians out there, however, who are “forgotten Syrians.” The world knows them through the nationality in which they reached

In the Middle East, asking questions gets you noticed.

The most innocuous of inquiries, the most aboveboard of assignments pique the interest of security agencies across the region. In Egypt, television journalists know this all too well. I experienced it once again, first hand, while filming this month’s edition of Inside the Middle East.

This article was originally written in Arabic and first published in 1925 by Gibran, one of the greatest Arab-American authors of all times. Eighty-two years later, the article still strikingly applies to the Middle East of today.

There are in the Middle East today two challenging ideas: old and new. The old ideas will vanish because they are weak and exhausted. There is in the Middle East an awakening that defies slumber. This awakening will conquer because the sun is its leader and the dawn is its army.

Sixty-one years ago, on April 17, 1946, Syria achieved independence from the French Mandate. Much has been writ-ten in Syria about the armed revolts against the French, which started in 1919 and accumulated in the great re-volt of 1925-1927. The heroes of these revolts are well-known to five generations of Syrians growing up during and after the Mandate. They include General Yusuf al-Azma, the minister of war who was killed in combat against the French Army in 1920, Ibrahim Hananu, commander of the Aleppo Revolt, Saleh al-Ali, commander of the mountain revolt, and Sultan al-Atrash, commander of the Syrian revolt of 1925. Leaders of the political process, however, who championed diplomacy—rather than violence—to secure Syria’s independence, have not received their due mention in Syrian history.

There is a debate in Syria today on issues related to the private financing of sports and how the government allowed private money to finance athletics through the so-called ‘private finance initiatives.’ Some of these initiatives proved successful in improving sporting performance. In other cases, however, they have not produced better results.

Children’s health is usually a high priority in public health. Providing children with adequate care and medical attention enable them to become healthy adults. Infant mortality is one of the major public health concerns towards children. Infant mortality is defined as the death of babies within their first year of age. Infant mortality is a valuable indicator to assess a community’s development, and overall health status. The lower the infant mortality is, the healthier society is and the better are a nation’s economy and social conditions. Reducing infant mortality is one of the declared seven millennium development goals of the United Nations. In Syria, UN agencies, especially UNICEF, are concentrating on combating infant mortality as part of their human development plans. Infant mortality rate in Syria has de-creased significantly over the past 15-years according to the Syrian Family Health Survey (known as the PAPFAM study), which was conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics in 2001 in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Youth Union, the State Planning Commission and the Pan Arab Project for Family Health. This study revealed that infant mortality dropped from 24‰ in 1986-1990 to 18.1‰ in 1996-2000. Noticeably, boys had higher mortality rates than girls. For boys it stood at 20.6‰ while it stood at 15.5‰ for girls. Despite this promising improvement, disparities occurred between urban and rural areas in Syria. Rural areas scored significantly higher rates of infant mortality (19.2‰) than urban areas (16.9‰). Many researchers are addressing the issue of infant mortality, trying to determine its risk factors and determinants. Most studies showed common risk factors, although with very different emphasis, depending on the country being studied. In Syria, the PAPFAM study showed that several factors contribute to the occurrence of infant mortality. These included demographic factors, such as maternal age at delivery, parity and birth intervals among siblings, socioeconomic conditions (such as maternal educational level), in addition to other factors like medical care (prenatal care, post natal and during delivery). The age of the mother at delivery affects the infant mortality rate. The PAPFAM study in Syria revealed that infants born to mothers aged 25-34 had better rates of survival than those born to older mothers, aged 35-49, or younger ones, aged 20 and below. Also, infant mortality rates were affected by the maternal educational level.