Tchotchkes? What are tchotchkes? I've never heard of that and neither has Google Translate. Do you mean knick knacks? Thank you!
@Eugene tchotch•ke chŏch′kə►
n. A cheap showy trinket.
n. a knickknack or trinket; a decorative item or souvenir of little value.
n. (Yiddish) an inexpensive showy trinket
I wondered too...
This lady has courage and grit in abundance which helped her maneuver the perilous journeys they undertook seekeing safety form the dangers they had been living under for years. Simply tracing on a map all the countries they traversed in an effort to escape is enough to make you wilt never mind the physical efforts and how daunting it must have been knowing of the danger especially crossing the sea from Turkey to Greece where so many have drowned through leaky boats and rough weather. Suhair and her family have the tenacity to deal with whatever comes their way and will do well, God willing.
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A very brave woman! I cannot even imagine what I would do or how I would take my children and cross seas and countries for a better life from a war torn country. I wish much luck and success to Sohair and her kids.
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While I sympathize with Suhair and her family travails and pain, I so with the NYT would also highlight the experiences of African refugees. Many of them do not have the same education levels as Syrians and are also not White, and there as been little welcoming for them compared to Merkel and other's opening the borders and countries for Syrians.
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Suhair has lived through a lot and she is a remarkable person. She will integrate better than many, with her independent spirit, that she doesn’t wear the hijab, that she rides a bike and walks a dog, all things that are quite rare among women from Muslim countries. It is hard to start over at 55, but she is so brave and hardworking she will make it.
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@Martha It is not rare at all to find women without the hijab in the Levant. Neither her nor her daughters wore one while in Syria.
Suhair is brave and her determination to give her children a safe place to live is shared by all of humanity. Everyone wants the same things for themselves and their loved ones. Wish her luck and success in her efforts. Will share this article with my Dutch friend who volunteers, assisting refugees settle in the Netherlands.
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Endless war. Perhaps the longest serving "War President" in American history, Mr. Obama, had something to do with Syria and the rise of ISIS? Remember Iran Contra? Wasn't that a goofy idea to arm the Contras in Nicaragua via arms sales to Iran? Just like the Obama government used weapons procured after the fall of Gaddafi in Libya to be sent to Syria? Why wasn't that considered a scandal like Iran Contra, even though an Ambassador died in the process at Benghazi? Perhaps journalists can write an article about Obama's "Boat People" from Libya as well? Or does one's political persuasion determine the requirement for reporting the truth?
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@Beigun
No mention in your comment about who started the middle east war in Iraq, George Bush, and the disaster and upheaval and death it caused. And what was this aggression by the us based on, more like ego than anything else. His father was a lot smarter than the son. Also no mention that woman's family was Palestinian and like many moved from country to country in the middle east after being pushed out of Israel. And no mention from you about our current president, Trump, who has a close and personal relationship with Saudi Arabia that promotes the extreme form of Islam, Hahhabism, that influences ISIS throughout the world. Yeah, blame it all on Obama.
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@Vail The Reagan administration helped set up the terrible instability in the Middle East by giving Saddam Hussein the ingredients for the chemical weapons he eventually used against the Kurds.
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@Beigun
You mean George W. Bush, the American President who started the war in Iraq and Afghanistan that began terrible instability in the Middle East and created a refugee crisis throughout that region. George W. Bush started that fiasco not Barack Obama.
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Great to see the NYT At War series featuring the reality of people forced out of their homes by the inhumanity of warfare that can be attributed, in part, to the role of the so-called "first world" in generating and feeding armed conflict. The story of Suhair and her family is positive and welcome especially at a time when Europe and other states of the Western bloc from Australia to the US are strengthening deterrence measures including criminalizing those in need of safety as well as humanitarians struggling to be of help. We need more outrage to challenge such inhumanity. See http://www.against-inhumanity.org/2019/05/07/asylum-criminalisation-in-europe-and-its-humanitarian-implications/
norah, Geneva
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"with Jordan’s restrictions on the kinds of jobs Syrians are allowed to do, they found they couldn’t afford a protracted stay."--this article, like almost all on the Middle East since 1948, glibly avoids the question of why Muslim nations--especially those which are rich and far from crowded--have accepted so few Muslim refugees fleeing wars, dictatorships and poverty.
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Suhair is to be commended for risking everything for her children. To move to a foreign country with nothing and wanting to learn a skill to support her family and get off of public assistance is admirable. Many of the 3rd and 4th generation welfare families in the US can learn much from Suhair.
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@archie The Dutch and German governments have provided the support necessary for refugees to prosper. The US government could provide conditions to support people but they choose not to.
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Thanks so much for this piece. To Suhair, thank you for your courage, your love, your willingness to share with all the readers all over the world.
Sometimes, we see the problems of refugees as less than human, meaning not in a personal way. There is nothing like the story of one human being or one family to move our hearts, and turn on our minds and real attention.
I wish you well, and it seems like you have plenty of determination, real warmth, and a fantastic dog as well!
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Suhair's life has been hard. She is exceptionally brave to attempt to relocate herself and her family in a different country. She got job training and is one of the fortunate people.
Is there ever any justice when the leader of a country is dictatorial? Syrians are living in hell and many have disappeared in the prison system.
I am afraid for the immigrants who attempt to come to the US under Trump's hatred. Amnesty is an international and domestic law that Trump is working to get rid of. People who have lived in the US for 20 years are being targeted for deportation. Trump, who was born into wealth, has no compassion for just how hard life can get.
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@Carol Ring
won't be long before he's gone, and the USA gets back to being what it has always been, a land for immigrants. "This too shall pass" - one of the best quotes in the Bible.
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Very moving. I will share this with my German friends.
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Brave woman - humanistic country. I wish we were better to our refugees.
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Best wishes to Suhair and her children.
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Although I know people like Suhair, it is still unfathomable to me how desperate a family must be for them to move - not to another town, city or region but another country -where they have no family or language skills and must leave most of their old life forever behind them. This is a such a uniquely traumatic and tragic experience. To be without a home or a job is stressful; to be without a country is a whole other level of distress. It would be encouraging if the NYT followed these families over time, to allow us to develop deeper levels of insight into this global struggle for survival.
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@louise The majority of Americans need only ask their grandparents (depending on your age, they may answer with what they learned from their parents or grandparents) the answer to "it is still unfathomable to me how desperate a family must be for them to move - not to another town, city or region but another country -where they have no family or language skills and must leave most of their old life forever behind them." You should read more American history.
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@louise
Many people here in the US themselves or their parents/grandparents went thru hardships to come to a new country, not knowing the language, no relatives, no money.
Somehow they adapted, survived and thrived. My mom's parents came to the US in the early 1900s. She often talks about how they grew up during the Great Depression, poor and with no extended family. So many tough times, and yes discriminated against too because they were poor and her parents spoke heavily accented broken English. We never knew them as they died too young. But all of their children & grandchildren have truly lived the American Dream.
If they work hard, Suhair and her children will be successful. Maybe they will choose to come to the USA some day, and continue their journey here in the country that has enabled so many immigrants to achieve a better life. Imagine, even our current president can thank his German grandfather - and his own Scottish mother - for choosing to be immigrants.
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I admire her courage, lovely story.
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Kudos to Suhair! She is brave and daring and a strong and loving mother. I am excited for her to start a new chapter in her life and I think she will accomplish whatever she sets her mind to! I'd love to see a follow up about her story.
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Bravo Suhair - wishing you and your family happiness and prosperity and a reunion as well.
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A beautiful piece. How can one read this and not feel the humanity and connection amongst us all?
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Very interesting. More articles like this please.
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