Raise your heart for Aleppo

Just now we had a men with pneumonia, because of the bombings there is a lot of respiratory problems with the wind. Among of that It's an incredibly rich and beautiful country, mountains everywhere and snowy peaks, men who wear tchadors, the calls to prayer echoing in the wind, armed checkpoint every 20 minutes with tanks and all kinds of artillery, giant portraits of young boys fallen during the conflicts, fields of hashish out of sight ... Read more

I was lucky to be invited to the Deir el Ahmar official school in the Bekaa Valley, to talk and exchange with 150 Christians and Muslims secondary students, tell stories and try to motivate them for their future. Read more

Syrians are happy and proud to see me here, they feel they are not forgotten. The people accepting to talk about what they have been through are touched by the interest I find in their stories. I heard about this student who is proud of the diploma she obtained under the bombings and this soldier who can now be a father after escaping a rocket fire, these women who heal the wounded everyday and give their lives to the others, this militiaman who protected his village during an Al-Nosra attack, this man who lost everything but managed to recover… Read more

Although they're shy, they are grateful for this presence and speak with poignant words. They all have continued to study, many of them have told me wanting to fight for their future and to help renew their Syria. Even if it is quieter now, it took courage to continue to study, it could cost them their lives because of the rockets, bullets, bombs. Read more

This night, I was thinking about in my room, my door couldn't close because the terrorists broke it few months ago, Daesh, Al Qaida, Al Nosra, it doesn't matter said the priest of Maaloula who was there during the attack and have a strong story, "virtual names", they're doing and being the same. Read more

If you look at foreign media, we show you the ruins, Daesh black flags floating in all the streets, collapsed buildings, missiles illuminating the sky ... death, but we do not show you hundreds of thousands of people for whom life continues here despite the war with courage, tens of thousands of children who go to school every day, hundreds of shops still open ... no. Read more

I couldn’t sleep a lot, at 5am the aircraft carried out an attack on the suburbs of Aleppo, rockets, bombs, ... when I arrived on the roof, I saw a bomb falling on a building in the old town, just a few km nearby, it’s impressive. We believe that the army would perhaps take back the city and it started now, if that's the case, it would be an historical battle. When I was walking in the school yard yesterday, a window exploded a few meters away, a stray bullet ... I am surprised but pleased that so few children were hurt. Impacts, shootings, impacts, sometimes very very close and explosions, vibrations into the guts, I learned with a child that I need to open the mouth during the explosions and shots to make it flows and prevent it to create too much pressure on my brain. You hear the shots that rise from the city, you also hear it coming on us, it is difficult to express this feeling, even now, my window is shaking and my heart beating hard. People get hurt inside the city today, no worries, I’m safe. I went to meet displaced families from 1070 to Salaheddin yesterday and today, families who used to live in the suburbs of Aleppo or in the villages nearby. Read more

Where are you? Two days ago I met several families in Khaldié, they live in a park in the center of Aleppo in extremely precarious conditions since they were displaced from their homes because of the war. Before they lived correctly, they had houses, flats, space ... they had a life. They did not want to move from here to stay together. They received a large shell and three mortars, luckily, they never exploded. Yesterday, around 14.30 pm, Al Nosra sent a bomb, they propel gas canisters filled with explosive material they cater to a propeller. The children saw it twirling in the sky, everyone started running. A father asked his daughters to run to hide under their tent. The bomb fell on their tent. The explosion killed them and destroyed everything, all the scattered belongings, burned pieces of flesh immediately covered with flies, a part of the skull and the hair of girls ripped several meters away, burnt blood which sticks to the road. Read more

Here I call them "the invincibles". Their childhood has been stolen and they reinvented it. I even think that it is the children who really inspired me here. How to explain it? We all have a story and sometimes very difficult times, we need to face life, each in our own way. But as I wrote it not so long ago, most of the time, we are able to understand what we own when we lost it. Their will to live, to study, build, ... was born from the death around them. 10,000 of them died just the first two years of war, many on the way to school (of which 6000 have been destroyed since the start of the war) Here they lost everything but are definitely richer than anyone else for that. Read more

Aleppo is on fire, but life goes on. From a rooftop, I can see most of the city. I think we can definitely forget the question of the cease-fire. Few minutes ago, a building exploded in front of me, fire and a white mushroom of smoke. If I turn on myself, there's smoke mushrooms all around, black, gray, white. The night was intense. I slept near a bombed area, the walls vibrated and the explosions were intenses, besides that, Daesh tried to infiltrate the city through tunnels last night. It's a strange atmosphere, the smell of blooming flowers mixing with the smell of burning buildings. The music of the birds who are singing, the children who are laughing mixing with gunfires and explosions. Although the army has recommended the families to don't send their children today to the schools, everyone is there, playing. When the building exploded, nobody really paid attention. Sellers are in their shops, passers-by are shopping. It is a contradiction that can be understood by five years of war, a kind of sad "habit", even if today the situation is radically changing. Life goes on, life must go on.

A moon like I have rarely seen rises in the purple sky. 300 meters away there is a building held by snipers, the black flag of the terrorists waves in the wind. This day I was sleeping not far from Zahrar and bombs fell all night long. Here I am. We managed to pass behind the fence and walked along the sidewalk facing the second sniper position, the street is filled with mortar fragments. The last street lights are lying on the ground bent in two or shattered. An entire street where remain only two families is now a no man’s land even if it is in a « loyalist zone ». As every family I have met, always an amazingly warm welcome, a sincere and simple smile. I’m a foreigner and all the families have been thankful for me to go deep into the conflict zone to see them when even the locals do not bother anymore. Read more

I really wanted to take this, even if it is very dangerous to take pictures in these areas, ... in fact everywhere. From Achrafieh to Midane where I went to meet another family until the first no man's lands which lead to Boustane Bacha, it’s not far. Few children are playing marbles between two shops destroyed at the entrance of the avenue, arrived at one meter from the entrance, a shot rings out and a bullet pass, children rushed down the edge of the wall trying to see the sniper positioned on the other side, he was facing the avenue and looking for targets, luckily we didn’t go further, this time, slightly chance of escape … but at that moment, I saw a little girl running on the avenue, she moved fast behind a mound of debris, she was probably too small to be seen by the shooter but I was horrified … and touched when I saw she passed through without being killed. I wanted to call her, but she would probably frozen, curious ... Read more - another article about children and terrorist snipers here 

Tout le bâtiment dans lequel je suis vient de trembler comme jamais, il a été presque soulevé du sol. Les combats sont terribles dehors, vous n'avez pas idée ... les obus et les roquettes volent de tous les côtés. Toute la ville explose littéralement. Je crois que c'est la raison pour laquelle je ne dors pas la nuit, au-delà des bombardements, c'est de ressentir la mort à chaquebombe roquette mortier obus balle qui tombe, à chaque sirène qui sillonne la ville. Il n'y a pas une seule nuit ou la guerre n'est pas dans mes rêves et cauchemars. Pour ceux qui maintiennent que ce n'est pas ma vie, que je devrais m'en aller, je respecte vos peurs. Je termine toujours ce que je commence et c'est un choix réfléchi, je suis ici pour donner une voix aux gens qui sont ici, qui qu'ils soient en tant qu'humains, pour continuer à leur montrer qu'ils ne sont pas oubliés. Je continuerais ce prochain mois comme je l'ai annoncé, au mieux que je puisse le faire. Encore une fois je ne changerais pas la face du monde mais c'est important pour eux ici et je fais de mon mieux pour y arriver avec cette guerre qui va en grandissant et qui transforme petit à petit Alep en enfer sur terre. Read more

I want to start on an other note. I’m really sorry, but lıfe ıs far from beıng sımple here. Those last two days were wonderful, the sun was shınıng ıts brıghtness and warmth on the cıty. When ıs went sılent, I could belıeve I was ın the Aleppo you could see ın movıes, full of lıfe. I was eatıng ıce cream on the Street wıth my frıends, then learnt how to play Taoule. The gorgeous smell of cookıng food escapes from hundred of wındows, my kıds play on the Street, merchants get busy, busy people and then so quıet. And then, from one mınute to another, the dust. Those last days, the bombıng have’t stopped, and always cause more and more deaths. The evacuated the Street to ınstall a rocket launcher – the rocket flıes and tear the sky apart. When the war planes gather and drop theır loadıng around the cıty, the resultıng sound ıs scary aswell. Thıs ıs a wierd feelıng, and yet you can’t help but lower your head. An Auschwıtz survivor once told me that hr greatest fears as a little girl were the Messerschmitts, going down, the small rotator ın the front making an awful noise a few seconds before death hits. Read more

La nuit j’aime regarder les étoiles. C’est l’heure de la prière, un homme brûle ses ordures en face, les soldats gardent la ville courageusement, les avions crachent des balles et les obus traversent le ciel avec des trainées lumineuses, un mortier qui s’écrase sur le bâtiment en face dont le toit vole en fumée, le ciel qui renvoie les flashs des explosions lointaines, la vie qui s’efface, l'air qui sent le souffre, les robinets qui ne crachent toujours que de l’air… Je suis rentré. Sur retour, le conducteur du bus nous demande de fermer les rideaux au cas-ou les snipers de Al Nosra seraient postés comme les derniers jours. Ils ont fait une annonce sur leur chaine de TV d'ailleurs, demain à partir de 18H, ils prépareront un petit quelque chose pour nous, on verra. Pourquoi rester à Alep donc? J’y crois. J’ai toujours réalisé ce à quoi je croyais. Evidemment parfois je doute, je suis seul ici … mais j’ai découvert beaucoup de personnes qui me donnent de l’amour. Une chose m’a touché, c’est que le monde a oublié la Syrie, ou s’il la connaît, c’est pour les mauvaises raisons. Je n’ai aucune raison d’aimer la Syrie plus qu’un Syrien, pourtant je porte de l’amour pour ce pays que je ne connais que trop peu et plus encore pour Alep, cette ville pleine de fantômes, cette ville, visage de la guerre en Syrie dont dont tout le monde parle et s’empresse d’oublier. Read more

J'étais à l'église hier, St Georges, la plus grande d'Alep. Les mortiers des terroristes ont commencé à tomber autour de nous. Petit à petit tout le monde a commencé à se regarder mais continuait à prier, à chaque bombe qui se rapprochait, certains se mettaient à genoux, d'autres se prenaient la main. Les explosions résonnaient terriblement dans l'église, les téléphones se mettaient à sonner de partout. Je pense que tout le monde à l'intérieur s'est préparé à mourir. Mon ami qui a été touché par une bombe il y a un peu moins de deux ans m'a dit: "je m'en fiche moi de mourir, mais regarde tous ces enfants ..." nous sommes sortis en courant pendant que les mortiers tombaient autour de nous sur les immeubles, la poussière et la fumée se répandait, les rues se vidaient pendant que les enfants et leurs mères courraient le long des trottoirs. Que voulez-vous que je vous dise? Nous sommes des civils, et c'est nous qui sommes visés. Read more

Ce matin j’avais besoin de marcher. En fait tu finis par oublier la guerre, mais tu ne peux pas l’oublier vraiment, c’est une sorte de déni, de choix inconscient. Tu marches dans la rue et tu vois un building qui brûle sur la montagne de Cheikh Maqsoud, tu dois faire attention ou tu marches avec les trous des mortiers sur le trottoir et les gravats de quelques immeubles récemment touchés, tu trouves parfois autant de douilles que de mégots de cigarettes, les impacts de balles, les explosions au loin et les avions qui survolent la ville, pourtant … chacun porte la guerre dans son quotidien mais l’oublie volontairement. En allant m’asseoir dans le parc, même si la vie continue ici, même si la vie s’active de tous les côtés, tu as l’impression que le temps s’est arrêté, tu as l’impression de vivre dans un décor de film oublié quelque part, les bancs arrachés ou perforés par les éclats d’obus sont là, l’herbe qui un jour fût verte est devenue jaune par endroits, les enfants se baignent dans la rivière d’eau sale qui traverse le parc, la chaleur est là et brûle la ville dont la survie dépend de l’alimentation en eau par les terroristes qui contrôlent les réserves à quelques Km de là. J’ai eu cette même sensation en partant à la rencontre des habitants qui vivent autour du village fantôme à peine 2km de distance de la centrale nucléaire de Fukushima Daiichi au Japon. Read more

We are superheroes - en Arabe نحن الأبطال الخارقين Un projet pour Alep et une mission humanitaire dédiée à l’espoir et au courage. Cette mission est un travail d’équipe, ce projet n’est pas le mien mais celui des jeunes ici et de ceux qui veulent le construire, le porter, le faire grandir. Dans beaucoup de pays il s’agissait de répondre à des urgences sociales et vitales, ici le projet sera premièrement au service des jeunes à Alep pour les aider à continuer à croire en demain et lancer des initiatives sociales à travers eux si c’est possible. On est conscients que ce sera difficile, ici on se limite à l’essentiel, rester en vie, avoir de l’eau, s’occuper de ceux que l’on aime, affronter la réalité de la guerre … tout ça prend déjà énormément d’énergie et de place dans le quotidien. Physiquement et mentalement, les gens sont épuisés. Essayer de développer quelque chose à Alep va demander une énergie considérable, de la folie et beaucoup d’espoir. L’espoir est quelque chose qui coute cher ici. Read more

I really wanted to take this, even if it is very dangerous to take pictures in these areas, ... in fact everywhere. From Achrafieh to Midane where I went to meet another family until the first no man's lands which lead to Boustane Bacha, it’s not far. Few children are playing marbles between two shops destroyed at the entrance of the avenue, arrived at one meter from the entrance, a shot rings out and a bullet pass, children rushed down the edge of the wall trying to see the sniper positioned on the other side, he was facing the avenue and looking for targets, luckily we didn’t go further, this time, slightly chance of escape … but at that moment, I saw a little girl running on the avenue, she moved fast behind a mound of debris, she was probably too small to be seen by the shooter but I was horrified … and touched when I saw she passed through without being killed. I wanted to call her, but she would probably frozen, curious ... Read more - another article about children and terrorist snipers here