My younger brother Sami caught the bug first and took it upon himself to begin documenting the stories our parents had told us when we were kids. In addition to gathering and digitizing family documents, Sami conducted extensive interviews with Mom and Dad recording their answers on tape and eventually transcribing those tapes.
As we delved further into historical research the sometimes fantastical stories of Syria my father told seemed to find some purchase. In old newspaper clippings and history books, we followed bread crumbs. We used to roll our eyes as kids thinking Dad’s stories were, shall we say, embellished.
Well perhaps they were to a certain extent as is the Arab tradition, but they were also rooted in truth. The stories of their lives and the oral history of our family were now seen in a different light. Less eye-rolling and more eye-opening.
Who were these people? Who were we? We set out on a journey of discovery and to ask more questions. In our family tree, and other pages of our website are some of the answers we found.