Expatriates

Sami Moubayed visited Buthaina Shaaban, the Minister of Expatriates, to talk about Syrians living abroad, and their upcoming conference in Damascus in May 2007. They talked about life, dreams, ambitions and the human side of Buthaina Shaaban. A woman of letters, a professor at Damascus University, and an author of numerous books in English and Arabic, she has been a house-hold name in Syria since the inauguration of President Bashar al-Assad in July 2000. Before that people knew her as the private interpreter for the late President Hafez al-Assad. She studied English literature at Damascus University and obtained her MA and PhD from the University of Warwick in Great Britain. She was voted into the Central Committee of the Baath Party in July 2000 and in 2002, became head of press and public relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In her new capacity she wrote articles for a variety of international newspapers, including the elite media in the US, defending Syria and the Palestinians from all charges brought against them after the start of America’s ‘War on Terror’ and the 9-11 attacks in New York. She has been Minister of Expatriates since September 2003. In an office deco-rated with photographs of presidents Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad, a large Syrian Flag, and a picture of her with the renowned Palestinian thinker Edward Said, she spoke at length to Forward Magazine. The Ministry of Expatriates is a new creation in Syria. It was launched after President Bashar al-Assad came to power in 2000. What has been achieved since this new portfolio was created? And don’t you think that Minister of Syrians Abroad is a better name for your job? The portfolio was first created in 2002. Be-fore that, a department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs looked after expatriates that and it was covered by the Minister of State Nasser Qaddur. He became the first Minister of Expatriates in 2002. I was named minister in September 2003. I was not really aware that this portfolio is so important for Syria— and so rich. I visited the United States only two months after I was named minister. We went to seven states and met groups of Syrian expatriates. I was absolutely amazed at the quality and caliber of so many doctors and engineers who are originally from Syria and who have done so well in their professions abroad. They had a great desire to participate in whatever is taking place inside the country. I remember one of them saying: “I made great achievements in medicine. But it does not mean a lot to me. If I go to Hama and perform the same, now that would be an achievement.” There were many social, professional, and humanitarian issues involved in the relationship between expatriates and Syria. And of course this is a very delicate portfolio because you are dealing with people, from all social strata and all professional domains and political backgrounds. It is a very complicated and sensitive issue, and that is why I found it so interesting. Immediately after I came back I realized the potential that we have with expatriates and we put a work strategy composed of three parts. First, to train, upgrade, and qualify people working at the Ministry. If the ministry is going to do a great job, it has to be qualified first. Second was to establish a link with expatriates, whether through field visits or the Internet. Third was to raise awareness inside the country of the importance of expatriates. Not many people know what is the potential of the Syrian expatriate community. So we started by training our employees. We first had a joint-program with the Syrian Higher Commission and the UNDP. This gave us a little bit of room to attract experts to train our people on communication, teamwork, raising that this portal is now ready. Anybody wanting to come to the country can do so, without sending a request to the respective Syrian embassy where he or she is living. From home the expatriate can now ill out his or her application and follow-up on its status. This is a practical achievement that we are proud of. When you have 15 million people all over the world you cannot reach out to them physically, but you can make them feel that you are accessible in this hightech age. So in the country I think we were able to raise awareness to the importance of expatriates, particularly through the first conference, which was held under the auspices of President Bashar al-Assad. Expatriates felt that the political leadership, and the President himself, are interested in establishing bridges, not necessarily for them to return to live in Syria but to have a good relation with Syria. That is why I tend to agree with your suggestion that Syrians Abroad is a better name for our Ministry than Expatriates.

I still remember that morning in May 1997. I woke up earlier than usual. The sky was gray and the temperature was cold outdoors; what a nice and sunny spring in Paris, I said to myself. I could not take it anymore. I had to return to Syria. At least there, one can feel the four different seasons of the year. Immediate questions came to mind, however: if I go back, what will I do? Where will I live? How will I evade my compulsory military service? I had spent my childhood, teens, and early adulthood in France, studying for school, university, and then working in Paris. The ‘Syria’ option was going to be very difficult for me. That was a fact. But since I was bound to do it sooner or later, since I did not plan to spend the rest of my life as an expatriate, then why not now?

Though I was born in Damascus, much of my life, including my childhood, has been lived abroad. My family’s early years were spent accompanying my diplomat father to various countries in Europe. In 1961, my father was appointed Syria’s representative to the United Nations. So, together with my brother, we joined our parents in New York City, where I attended Columbia University.

A dear friend of mine asked me to write about Syrian expatriates and how they could be part of the nation building efforts ongoing in Syria. In the following paragraphs, I will give my personal view on a topic which has generated its fair share of emotions among colleagues and friends of mine both in Syria and abroad. By committing some of these thoughts to paper, I hope to generate further dialogue on the topic of better understanding the key issues expatriates face when it comes to contributing to their country of origin and then to work to find solutions to these issues.

In the March issue of FW:, editor Sami Moubayed wrote a charming piece about “Ahlam”, a baby girl born on April 17, 1946, whom he described as having “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.”

Last month my good friend Ghassan, a Syrian/Canadian, was working late in the evening, like he always does, at his office in Allentown, a small, totally undistinguished city near Philadelphia. The head office of the company he worked for was the place he needed to move to in order to advance his highly successful engineering career.

After a long cold winter, we were finally liberated by that first sunny day of spring, the kind that ignites a revolution in our spirits. I spent the day enjoying lunch with friends and a long walk that took us across the Harvard Bridge offering the most beautiful view of Boston, my hometown and the city where my relatives led from Otto-man-occupied Syria two generations ago.