Life in Syria continues despite the war. In areas controlled by the government, in those occupied by ISIS or by different factions of the opposition, citizens who are not displaced or emigrated are seeking to reorganize the services suspended due to the conflict: supply of essential goods, health care, education, cultural activities. Their efforts to restore normality in their daily activities and in human and social relations in view of the post-war reconstruction, are almost ignored, because the international media pay attention mostly to military developments and political strategies and often have no access to direct sources in the country.
"Good Morning Syria", is an innovative bilingual (English and Arabic) website launched to overcome this barrier and give voice to the Syrian civil society. Through a network of young journalists, activists, photographers, video and audio-makers, it focuses on the daily lives of Syrians from all over the country, who struggle to survive in their war-torn homeland, with reports, interviews, analysis and features from the main cities - Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Deir az-Zawr, Tartus, Raqqa - and also the most remote villages.
The website is a new source of information on Syria to counter the propaganda of the various warring factions and provide space to active citizens, who do not want to surrender to the war. The outcome of four and a half years of fighting is dramatic: over 250,000 dead, almost 4.3 million refugees, mostly in neighboring countries (about 2.2 million in Turkey, 1.1 million in Lebanon and 630,000 in Jordan) and other 7.6 million internally displaced persons, according to statistics of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) updated to November 3, 2015. Another report published in March by the United Nations has estimated in 202 billion dollars the total economic loss from the start of hostilities and reported that four out of five Syrians now live in poverty and 30% of those in extreme poverty, and that the education system, health and welfare are collapsing.
"Good Morning Syria" aims at informing on how Syrians are reacting to a context featured by the collapse of social services, starting from education. Actually 78% of Syrian children fled to Lebanon do not go to school and over 400,000 of the young refugees in Turkey are not able to attend classes due to language barriers, obstacles to integration and financial difficulties. Inside the country there are instead attempts by some teaches to provide private lessons to share their knowledge with the next generations, even in areas controlled by ISIS, as Deir az-Zawr and Raqqa. But in such situations teachers must act in secret to avoid being arrested, as reported in one of the articles published: "Secret Classes in Deir az-Zawr."
On the website there are articles on everyday life, like "Hama's Artisans Stand Idly By", describing artisan markets in Hama now empty of shoppers because of the war and most of them closed, as craftsmen are forced to give up the craft for which they were famous to look for new jobs to survive, or dramatic stories like "From Hunger to Apostasy" about the residents of the besieged neighbourhoods in Deyr az-Zawr, who have to choose either to endure the injustice of the Syrian regime or escape to the regions controlled by the self-declared Islamic State, where they are prosecuted.
The correspondents of "Good Morning Syria" are trained and managed by an international team of editors based abroad and will liaise with a group of experts in order to reach out to Arab and international media.