Relationships among family members are among the most complex relationships that define us as humans. Because it’s too important to us we tend to know more about history of our family ancestry. My curiosity to know more about my family led to visit someone who is very special and dear to my heart my grandmother Sarah. My grandmother lives in a small house close to the lake with my grandfather were she keeps a lot of memories about her life in every single part of this house. We sat-down in her warm small salon. She gave me a cup of hot tea and some cookies.
I asked my grandmother to tell me about our family, because I know that Sarah is the oldest member of my mother’s side of the family so she probably knows the family history better than others. In addition to that I was always interested in listening to what my grandmother always had to say because my grandmother was always very honest, straight, talkative, and has most influenced the rest of the family. Sarah’s family moved from Armenia after the Armenian genocide.
Turks killed a lot of people from Armenian minority in the Turks land after World war I. any Armenian families escaped from the Turkish death to the nearby countries such as Russia, Azerbaijan, Palestine, and Jordan. My grandmother’s family moved to live in Syria. Sarah Qweder was born in 1940 in the Syrian capital Damascus for Two Syrian parents from an Armenian background. Her father joseph was a carpenter who worked all day long to get my grandmother and her five brothers what they need for living. Sarah told me: my father used to be a professional manual carpenter who made chairs, tables and doors for churches.
He used to make good money in the summer where he sold his antiques to the tourists. On the other hand her mother didn’t work because she felt that she needed to take care of her children. She was a typical Syrian housewife to where she stayed home cooked, cleaned, and raised her children’s with love all the time. Sarah went to a private orthodox school in “Salvia” one of the most ancient neighborhoods in the Syrian capital. She said, “I used to go to my school in old salvia it’s really old but I love every single part of that neighborhood. They taught me Arabic, French, and Christianity.
I hated my school but it was the only private Armenian school in Damascus”. Syria used to be a great beautiful place to live in where my grandmother’s family founded the peaceful life in a great country between lovely people. Everything was going good in their life until the Syrian Israeli war started between the two countries in 1967. All the men above the age of 18 were forced to join the Syrian army. Her father joseph and her uncle Kareem went to fight in the war. My grandmother felt sad and upset because her dad left them to join the army.
She said, “I cried when he left; I hoped if he came back to us, but war don’t exclude anyone everyone paid the price of the war”. Time went by and this war became very bad. Many people died, people were hungry, and Poverty outbreak in the Syrian society. Since Sarah’s dad left the home there was no one to feed the family except My Grandmother Sarah’s mother. Lena worked in a small factory in Damascus from 7 am until 7pm in order to help her family. They paid her only $92 per month. Even though that was a little for the tough job, but she needed it for her children.
Furthermore the Syrian government it’s not like the American government. In the United States of America government helps the people in their life, while in Syria there is no kind of any help for the poor people. Sarah’s said, “My [mother] used to work the all week to buy as something to eat. We ate bread and apple and if we were lucky we ate meat once or twice in the whole month. In 1973 the war ended between Syria and Israel. My grandfather survived, but his brother Kareem died. My grandmother family were not the only people who lost someone in the family all the people paid the price of the war.
Her father joseph went back home after seven years away from his home. I sensed the sadness in my grandmothers voice when she said, “I am happy because my lovely dad is alive but I am also upset about the fact that my uncle died in the awful war”. After the war my grandmother family lived in Syria for almost like two years. The life was very miserable with all the pain caused by war. In addition to that the live expenses increased after the war no one afforded the life expenses in Syria except the wealthy portion of the Syrian society.
The family looked forward to immigrate out of the Syria. Many people moved to Argentina and Brazil. Sarah’s said” Although Argentina and Brazil were not that good but still better than Syria. Two million Syrian families immigrate to Brazil for better living conditions. Some of them were lucky in some were not”. My grandmother’s family immigrated to united state: her father choose the great lakes area to live in he believed in some way it’s more beautiful than other place just because of the lake!
They lived in a small house in the City of Avon Lake where her father got job in the wood factory. My grandmother Sarah’s went to St. Joseph School, where she learned how to speak English. My grandmother’s family faced a lot of challenges in United States such as: the new language, country, and adapting to the new life. Although they faced all those problems when they moved to United States, at the end they were able to find a new life of peace in a new world.
