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The Road to the Refugees

This blog captures my trip in 2012 (solo) to Turkey to go look for Syrian Refugees and offer them aid. It also captures my second humanitarian trip in November 2013 to open a school and start an art therapy program in Tripoli, Dier Ammar, Lebanon.

It will now capture my 2017 GREECE trip to help refugees.

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DAY 8.1- GETTING TO REHANLIYE

11/6/2012

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Day 7.1 Getting to Rehanliye

I found out that I had to go down immediately to Rehanliye to deliver something for the guy who sent me with medicine. I had no idea he was waiting on me and didn't want to leave Gazientep till I was done paying for the diapers, making rounds with the organization, and buying heaters. I decided to leave all my stuff in Gazientep and just take a small backpack with me down to Rehanliye.
   My work in Gazientep was not over. I was also feeling sick and had an ear infection, fever, and cold. The next morning, I told Hisham I was going and also, did he have any antibiotics for an ear infection? He gave me something and then him and the guys dropped me off at a bus stop. Before getting on, I went to take out my maximum daily cash amount from an ATM. I went to get a bottle of water so I can down my medicine and asked the man in the little shop where an ATM was. The TUrkish man with the gray big mustache and kind eyes asked where I was from. I told him SURIA. 
"Suria!! TAMAM!" he said excitedly. Then He taught me how to say straight ahead in Turkish and pointed to the ATM. He was so excited that I had walked into his store. He wanted to teach me Turkish all day. I followed his directions, got money and then grabbed a little cheese sandwhich before hopping on the bus. I took the next bus over to Rehanliye. It was roughly a 3.5 hour bus ride down and had to take 3 connecting busses to get there. The bus ride through the countryside was beautiful and a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the cities I had been in. Simple farmers and bedouins marked the countryside, herding their sheeps or sitting under the shade of an olive tree. Children and families working the land together.
   On my bus ride down, I vaguely remembered the very little sleep I had the night before. I woke up crying from my ear infection, scrambled for any medicine I had brought with me that I had not given away already. I had a bag of tylenol and a 2 packets of emergenc-e. I mixed myself some emergenc-e and swallowed a tylenol. I wanted to take a hot shower but there was no hot water. It made me thing of what the people that serious injuries and how my minor ear infection kept me up all night, I wonder what a gunshot wound or a leg or burned hands must be like. SO RE-CALLIBRATING. Every single thing we have there is a luxury. The ability to open up your faucet and be the proud recipient of hot water, the toilet flushing, having your own room, having a warm blanket, clean water, meat in your diet, a car that runs... THe list goes on and on, but these are all luxuries. 
    I looked out the window and wondered what this next town would bring. I knew that this was the same town that had the kid with the missing leg and was very much looking forward to visiting him. I was bummed I had to rush down there like this. I was planning on spending more time down there and helping, now I have to go down for a day and then rush back. Lots of running around.
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    Hi. I'm a Syrian-American Artist, writer, and educator with far too much thirst for adventure. 


    Trip to Turkey, 2012

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    Categories

    All
    A. It Begins Here
    B. The Man With The Medicine
    C. Day 1- Touching Down In Istanbul
    D. Day 2- Guardian Of The Medicine
    E. DAY 3- The Road To Buy Bus Tickets
    G. Day 4.2 My First Refugee Family
    H. Day 4.3 Connecting The Syrians
    I. Day 5- So That's Where All The Refugees Are In Istanbul
    J. Day 6 The Community Comes Together
    K. A Cold Cold Night
    L. Day 8.1 Getting To Rehanliye
    M. Day 8.2 Arriving In Rehanliye
    N. Travel Advisory Warning
    O. Day 9 I Found The Boy With No Leg
    P. Day 10 First Day Of Family Visits
    Q. So Much To Write Its Overwhelming
    R. Day 11- Drawing On War
    S. Day 12 How To Have A Syrian Restaurant On Turkish Soil
    T. Day 13.1 THIS DAY TAKES THE CAKE

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