Aya - Syria

Anyone who has met Aya will agree: she makes an impression. She is a whirlwind of passion, opinions, love, confidence, laughter, principles, and loyalty. I met Aya working in Gaziantep, Turkey, shortly after she had moved there from her native Aleppo in 2013. As a young woman just out of college, she was part of the early protests that started the Syrian revolution. A literature major at university, the Syrian crisis changed the course of her life and flung her into activism against the brutal regime and extremists that were tearing her nation apart. For her, there was no other option - she had been made for this moment in her country's history. The job she had in Turkey - working with activists inside Syria to keep hope and revolutionary values alive - was the first job she ever had. During our time together in Turkey, I was able to watch Aya develop into a professional - taking her activism and passion and channeling it. Never losing her fire, but learning to clearly explain her positions and tolerate the administrative tasks required to put ideas into action. One of my favorite Aya-stories happened the first time she ever came to the U.S. for a conference in 2014. After arriving at her gate in Chicago, the airline attendants asked all Global Service members (a special frequent flyer status) to begin boarding. Aya, confident even while jetlagged in an unfamiliar place, boarded the plane, thinking, "That must be me, because I work in service to the globe!"

After several years of work on the program in Turkey, Aya decided it was time to move on in order to further her education. She is currently getting her masters degree at American University in Washington, D.C. (my alma mater!) in International Development and working at the Al Jazeera Media Network as a part time freelancer. She just completed her first year of graduate school with straight As. Moving to the U.S. just in time for the 2016 presidential election, life hasn't been entirely easy for this Arabic-speaking Syrian woman. She tries not to speak Arabic in public for fear of the inevitable sideways glances; and she doesn't want to leave the country to visit her family in Turkey, for fear that she won't be able to get back into the U.S. to finish her studies. Despite these challenges, however, she has found her footing and met some wonderful people who have embraced her and made DC feel like another home. After she finishes her degree, she doesn't know where she will go. She gave up her work visa in Turkey to go back to school, and neither Turkish nor U.S. immigration policies have open arms toward Syrians these days. And going back to Aleppo... that is, unfortunately, still something she can only dream of being able to do someday. What I know is that wherever she ends up in 2018 will be an extremely lucky place. America is certainly very lucky to have her for now.

"I would like to say the following.... it is quoted from Henry Miller and significantly edited by myself: The earth is one great sentient being, a planet saturated through and through with man, a live planet expressing itself falteringly and stutteringly; it is the home of man and all men are equal before God and will have their chance, if not now then a million years hence. Who has the last say? Man! The earth is his because he is the earth, its fire, its water, its air, its mineral and vegetable matter, its spirit which is cosmic, which is imperishable, which is the spirit of all the planets, which transforms itself through him, through endless signs and symbols, through endless manifestations. The last man will have his say before the end. Down to the last sentient molecule justice must be done - and will be done! Nobody is getting away with anything, least of all the shifts of dictatorship including the Assad regime."