Syria’s Secret Library

—Based on a True Story—

　Darayya is a town/8 km south-west of Damascus,/the capital of Syria.//
　In 2012,/the conflict between the government and the citizens,/who were demanding democracy,/turned into a civil war.// As all the roads leading to the town/were blocked,/the citizens had no access to things/necessary for their daily lives.// Schools were closed,/and students had to give up their studies.//
　Many people had already left Darayya/and escaped to neighboring towns.// However,/some citizens decided to stay in Darayya/and continue their resistance/against the government.// Ahmad Mujahid,/a 23-year-old student/studying engineering at Damascus University,/was one of them.//
　One day in 2013,/some friends asked Ahmad/for help.// They said/they were trying to dig books/out of the fallen houses.// Ahmad was surprised and asked,/“Books?”// He thought/there was no point/in saving books/when people’s lives were not saved.// For him,/books were nothing but a symbol/of lies and propaganda.//


　Unwillingly,/he followed his friends/to a destroyed building/and picked up a book/from the floor.// The book was written in English.// Ahmad did not speak the language,/yet he spotted/some words he knew.//
　When he turned the pages,/he felt his body shake.// He forgot about the war/and found himself/in a world of peace.// The feeling of opening the door to knowledge/shook his heart.//
　About 40 people volunteered/for this mission.// They waited for the sound of military aircraft/to disappear/and then collected books.//
　After a month,/about 15,000 books had been gathered.// The volunteers carried these books/to the basement of one building/located in a badly damaged neighborhood.// They wiped the books clean,/repaired torn pages,/and put them on shelves.// They also carefully wrote down/the name of the owner of each book/on its front page.//
　Ahmad said,/“We are not thieves.// These books belong to the people/of the town.// We want to make sure/these books will return to the owners/once the war is over.”//


　A nameless library was established underground.// It was the only library/in Darayya.//
　The library was open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m./every day/except on Fridays.// It might sound crazy/to run a library/when people were facing death.// However,/an average of 25 people a day/visited the library.//
　People desperately needed books/to gain knowledge/in wartime.// Doctors needed books/to treat their patients,/and teachers needed books/to provide education for children/in the destroyed town.//
　Knowledge was not the only thing/that books gave to people in Darayya.// Children read books/which their fathers brought back from the library.// Books sometimes helped them/ignore the hunger they felt.// Soldiers also read books.// They read/in order to hold themselves together/and not to let the war destroy them.// People read books to learn,/to escape,/and to maintain humanity.// Thanks to books,/people did not give up the hope/that they would be able to live peacefully again someday.// For those who did not even like reading before the war,/reading became a shield against the bombings.//



　Since its opening,/the library had become more than just a library.// It was a meeting place,/tea room,/education center,/and even a place of entertainment/for the people in Darayya.//
　They came to the library/not only to read,/but also to get together/and interact with each other.// They often had debates/about democracy and revolution.// Some classes,/such as English and political science,/were also held at the library.// People were trying/to pass on the knowledge they had/to others.// Sometimes they watched movies/and even danced there.//
　A library user said,/“In a sense,/the library gave me back my life.// It has helped me meet others/more mature than me.// I can discuss issues with them/and learn things/from them.// I would say/that just as the body needs food,/the soul needs books.”//



　In August, 2016,/people in Darayya/yielded to the government order/and left their own town.// The siege of Darayya,/which lasted for three years and nine months,/finally ended.//
　Although the name of the town “Darayya”/means “many houses”/in old Syrian,/there were no houses/left in the town/after the frequent air raids.// Their secret library was destroyed/after the forced eviction,/and the books were sold/for little money/on the side of the streets.// Those were the books/Ahmad and his friends wrote the owners’ names on.// Ahmad said,/“A town could be destroyed,/but the minds of people could not.”//
　Ahmad settled in a new town/and started a traveling library.// He loads hundreds of books/in a van/painted bright colors/and drives around the town.// His project enables children/who have been deprived of learning opportunities/to gain access to books.// He says,/“Our aim is to raise their intellectual capabilities,/to broaden their understanding,/and to motivate them/to search for knowledge and culture.”//