Syrian refugee now calls Saskatoon home

Athar Farroukh came to Saskatoon as a Syrian refugee a year ago, but she still hasn't lost the memories from her home country, according to the campaign Saskatchewan Cares.

"I have to laugh. If I couldn't laugh, my heart would die from the sadness,"Farroukh told the organization.

Farroukh was married three years ago. The future she once dreamed of now feels like it will only ever be a dream.

Her husband was a law student in Syria and she was to join him at the same university later that year, where she was to study psychology.

But the revolution turned civil war in Syria made that impossible.

Ten days after she and her husband married, the Syrian military began bombing Athar'scity, Daraa.

Her family lost everything.

In an effort to find safety, her in-laws decided to make the dangerous trek to Lebanon.

"I remember that I didn't want to go, but my husband, Mohammed, insisted. He, like my brother, hadn't yet served his time in the army, so we had to sneak out. We were almost caught on the border. I know that if they had taken him, he would have never come back," she said.

"We left behind our education, our schools, our colleges, and our dreams. We had no choice but to leave, for the horrors going on in Syria are still continuing today."

Farroukh is now taking classes to learn English. Her parents, however, are still living in Syria. She has not heard from them in a month.

She knows that Daraahas been bombed again, and that many lost their lives but all she can hope is that her parents are still alive.

"I know that life here is good and nice and sweet, but we can't feel the sweetness while life in Syria is so bitter."