Samira
Samira, a grandmother from Syria, remembers the situation shortly before her family were forced to flee to Jordan:
"They (the fighters) put the road block right outside our front door, so we couldn’t leave the house. They blocked the road starting from the paved road to the west of our house. It was fine, we could (still) go in our truck to check on our farmed land, pineapple, watermelon, zucchini and we would pass by them (on the way). My grandson who was ten, twelve years old used to help (the fighters) and buy cigarettes for them. I asked him if he was friends with them and he said yes. We trusted them and they didn’t give us any trouble, until one day, one of them wrote a report... (sensitive information redacted)."
Like many other Syrians, Samira was forced to flee her family's farm and lands. With agriculture as a major sector of Syria's pre-war economy, and a source of livelihood for a large proportion of Syrians in rural areas, life has been extremely tough in recent years both for those who have lost their land, and for those farmers who have remained in Syria.
