Syrian Americans call for relief action
Rasha Demashkieh can’t shake feelings of guilt and helplessness that more is not being done about the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis.
“The human tragedy is on a scale unparalleled, and if we don’t act, shame on us. We know it’s happening. It’s all over the news. We can see it. These people are dying before our eyes. They’re begging us for help and we’re just sitting there watching them and wondering ‘Should we, shouldn’t we?’ The longer we wait, the more people are dying,” she said.
Demashkieh and her husband, surgeon Dr. Walid Demashkieh, are from Damascus, Syria.
They both serve on the advisory board for the Center for Arab American Philanthropy, which is sponsoring a disaster relief matching fund drive on Facebook. They also raise funds for Jusoor, an organization that works to provide education to displaced Syrian children and facilitate university admissions around the world for young Syrians.
Rasha Demashkieh is a pharmacist in Port Huron and is vice-president of the Port Huron Schools Board of Education.
While the Demashkiehs fault themselves despite their own efforts, they also struggled to understand the rest of the world’s complacency as a humanitarian disaster unparalleled since World War II continues to unfold.
“Our inaction does not speak highly of us as a nation,” Rasha Demashkieh said. “There have been many things that have been cited as reasons, such as ‘We don’t know who these people are. We have no way of vetting them. There’s no government there that we can rely on to give us background so how can we trust them? We’re worried about the extremists.’
“All very valid reasons, but I believe there are ways to get around them, I really do,” she said. “Where there’s a will there’s a way, and I trust that there is a way this can be done.
“We know of the human tragedy. Our children are going to look at us and say, ‘Shame on you. You didn’t do anything. You let these people die.’ That happened before. We swore that we would never let it happen and here we are, repeating history. We have not learned from history.”
An estimated 11 million people have been displaced since fighting began in Syria in 2011, in what started as a peaceful revolution and grew to involve the world’s superpowers. Seven million have been displaced within the country. Another 4 million refugees have fled into Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and now parts of Europe.
Dr. Demashkieh said he is amazed by the level of compassion his patients have extended to him regarding the situation back home.
“American people are extremely generous at heart. Before they talk about their illnesses and what they are there for, they ask me about Syria. ‘How’s your homeland? Do you have any family there?’ And of course I say I have my mother living there, my brother and sister and distant family.
“It’s unfortunate our government is not responding to this tragedy that’s really not happened in the world since World War II. We are the leader of the free world. When you have Germany say they are going to accept 800,000 refugees and you have the United States of America start by saying ‘We’re going to accept ten thousand and by 2016 we’re going to have 65,000.’ I mean, this is a shame. We need to have more awareness,” he said.
The Demashkiehs credited Gov. Rick Snyder for his recent announcements in the news stating his interest in creating welcoming conditions for Syrian refugees in Michigan should they choose to settle here, adding it would be a federal decision before anything else.
Rasha’s sister-in-law, Port Huron dentist Dr. Randa Jundi-Samman, said she and her husband are doing as much as they can through monetary donations including those earmarked for medical assistance on the ground to refugees through the Syrian American Medical Society.
But she said that amount is a drop in the bucket compared to the many millions of dollars that are needed every day to manage the crisis.
Jundi-Samman said she is plagued by feelings of sadness about the devastation to her country and its people. She moved to the U.S. at the age of 22.
“I never thought in my life I’d be talking like this about my own country,” she said.
Her mother, whose home is in Damascus, is here visiting but will soon be returning.
“I’m extremely scared to send her home. I’m scared to death. We talk about this every day and we cry about it every day. We don’t want her to go back but she’s determined. Just a week ago 85 bombs fell on Damascus proper, right where she is,” Jundi-Samman said. “But she’s one of the lucky ones. She can come and go.”
She said the first thing her dental patients ask her is about the situation back home, and that people in the community have approached her ever since the attacks on the World Trade Center to express their concern for her and her family’s welfare in the U.S.
“It’s so kind, it warms my heart. I makes me realize how grateful I am to be here … They come when you least expect them. That’s why we give back to the community as much as we do.
“Humans always care. The bigger powers are going to decide this. Ultimately it’s up to them. But that doesn’t mean we don’t do anything. Somebody’s got to do something,” she said.
Contact Syeda Ferguson at (810) 989-6276 or email her at syeda@thetimesherald.com. Follow her on Twitter@shossainfe.
SYRIAN REFUGEE RELIEF
•Disaster Relief Matching Fund Drive: Through the Center for Arab American Philanthropy, based in Dearborn. Contributions go to UNICEF, Syrian American Medical Society Foundation, and non-profit organization Jusoor to support education, medical aid and other humanitarian needs in Syria. Go to http://bwne.ws/1VsEWkY. To view the CAAP website, go to www.centeraap.org.
•Medical Aid: Fundraiser for on-the-ground medical aid through Syrian American Medical Society. Donations will help provide medical aid, blankets and supplies to displaced Syrian families. Go to http://bwne.ws/1VsFeZc. Website address: www.sams-usa.net.
Source: www.thetimesherald.com