Mum called me this morning to say hi to Naya. ‘I’m so sad that my trip to see you has been cancelled - my heart is aching to see you.’   With that heartfelt love and sadness, I found myself crying. Sincere emotions are like an arrow straight from sender to receiver, sparking a similar reaction, awakening feelings that 

This year, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan will begin on Tuesday 13 April 2021, depending on the sighting of the moon. Our colleague Razan has written some beautiful words which recall her memories of Ramdan in her Syrian homeland, before the war.

I stopped for a minute to take in my climb and soon started to think about how activism is synonymous with climbing a mountain. You set an intention, prepare yourself and have the summit in mind. You imagine how great you'll feel when you have accomplished your goal to climb the mountain and see the incredible views...Then you get lost and pull a muscle.

I am a dreamer, no doubt about it. One of my favourite things whether sitting or walking is creating a full blown fantasy - running wild with a story unfolding in my head with colours, sounds and smells.

I recall being 6 years old, at home in Damascus, playing with my cousins and siblings and insisting on being the doctor performing life saving surgery on our Barbies.

Locked down in isolation with 7 billion people fearing for their lives isn’t how I imagined maternity leave. But this virus has demonstrated to us something most of us forget in our daily lives - that what happens to someone in China directly affects me in the UK and what I do affects someone in the USA.  

These past few weeks have been extremes of joy and despair. The joy — the little baby girl we welcomed last month — is next to me, held close to my heart and sheltered from all the chaos in the world. The despair — the nightmare unfolding in Syria — is one where mothers do not have that same luxury.

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. It seems they often do the exact opposite of their purpose; or perhaps it’s only me who never failed to screw them up year in, year out.

War and hope are not natural bedfellows and yet the prelude to Syria’s war was rooted in just that - hope.