I can relate. My first Arabic teacher grew up in Syria in the 70's, and the last 40 years has been brutal emotionally. Both parents died as I grew up, and onc

I can relate. My first Arabic teacher grew up in Syria in the 70's, and the last 40 years has been brutal emotionally. Both parents died as I grew up, and once her mother died (maybe after 2004?) and all the bureaucracy and bribes she was so disgusted she never went back. Years later, we were talking about Egypt and she said things like that would never happen in Syria, ever! And now look at the ironic state of things. Her sister still lives in Damascus. And when we talked recently, first time in years, and that came up, she almost cried. But it was out of sheer anger. People I meet do not even care about the emotional loss, but how they have watched their country implode so rapidly while everyone voluntarily fucks it up more. Thanks, for the tip about SAMS. I assume this is them. http://sams-usa.net/foundation/ http://sams-usa.net/foundation/ I am trying to pool people together with some people I know here and the MENA region to do fundraising for the Jesuit relief fund (I know, I know, but they are very cool and have no religious stake; I have met Iraqi Lebanese and Syrian employees from all backgrounds and their dedication to crisis assistance, religion is not even on the radar) and want to tap the Syrian-American community to help fundraise. Email address is in my profile. I would love to get people like yourself involved.