Three young Syrian guys save the archeological site
from being forgotten….and from garbage. They win
over the greed of investors !
Al-hayat newspaper 19/09/2005
“From the first sight I
felt in its love, I was wondering as usual on the
neighboring roads of my city Tartus riding my bike,
I decided to turn right and while I was passing
through a brushwood , I started to hear the sound of
the wheels rubbing with the paved road to Amrit, I
thought that I’m hearing the sound of my breath . Oh
God where was this place all this time?!! How near
is it!”
That’s how Talal (an electrical engineer) started
his story and the story of his two friends , Hisham
(a lawyer) and Tony (an electrical engineer) ,that’s
how they started their story with Amrit the
historical city ,that existed since the third
millennia B.C. It is about seven kilometers south of
Syrian governorate of Tartus on the Mediterranean
sea.
(The original picture is
replaced by this picture of the temple):

“I’m
a tourist from the first class”, Hisham heartily
explains and adds : “I used to read the ((
antiquarian yearbook)) magazine ,which is issued by
the Directorate of Antiquities and Museums , so I
found a classification of archeological tombs called
Azar cemeteries in Amrit, I asked my friends about
it and no one of them have heard about them. I
checked their location in the magazine and went with
Tony and Talal to see them. After our arrival there
,we were shocked of seeing these ancient cemeteries
covered with hills of rubbish. And we knew that the
area was turned into a place to get rid of rubbish,
which gave thieves a golden chance to steal what
ever they like from it, after a short period we
decided to form a team to save these monuments”
Without any hesitation, the
young men went to the governmental executive
authorities and kindly request them to clean the
area and take care of it, their request was
responded at once, but out of their expectations, it
turned out that the area was cleaned to be exhibited
for touristic investments!!
“ the buried bones of our
ancestors under the soil, are shaking of fear and
whining because of the destiny that’s waiting for ,
and they are counting the days left to the
bulldozers to come and drift their tombs and soil,
and construct in their place hotels and amusement
centers . Our ruins will be buried under the masses
of beton , if we don’t start an international and
local campaign to save them as soon as possible “ …that’s
what was Tony thinking about ,while he was jealous
of his country and sad of not exploiting these
touring abilities .
As a response to this tragic
reality , Tony, Talal and Hisham contacted the
excavation mission that’s sent by the Directorate of
Antiquities and Museums ,in order to stop the attack
of the touristic projects, because this mission is
responsible for writing a report that classifies the
area by one of these three options:
The first is to be totally
considered an archeological site so no hotels can be
constructed inside its territory, the second is to
consider it as small and limited archeological site
which can be exploited as an archeological site near
the hotel(s), the third is to transfer the findings
to the museum and the land shall be left to be
invested by the project owners as they want.
The three young men
determined to convince the mission with the first
option, so they organized a tour with the mission to
the site ,and showed it the neglected cemeteries and
the important ruins which is buried only a few
meters under the ground. They succeeded and the
mission moved its workplace to Azar cemeteries, and
wrote a report that demands to stop the touristic
investment of the area, and for more security the
young men asked to put guards for the area and they
set a tent(( mobile )) for them especially ,on their
account. They also participated in paying the
rent for places where volunteering students from the
archeological college who showed their desire to
work with the excavation mission with a house for
female students and a tent for male students.
The volunteers encouraged
the touring trips and the inhabitants to visit the
site, the thing that made many people sympathize
with them so they gained new volunteers to achieve
their noble aim. They also exploited an incident of
stealing two ancient tombs to make media turned
their case into a public one. The result of these
efforts was positive, that the minister of tourism
issued a decision for stopping any touristic
projects in the site and registering the young men
and women as official volunteers to save Amrit.
For achieving their goal,
each one of the volunteers gave his abilities
depending on his specialist. They believe in this
vital aim:” a homeland civilization”
“I joined the volunteers
team recently ” says Ghada ,she works as a dentist
and she is also an artist. “ since I have worked as
a doctor ,I cooperated with my colleagues from all
specializations to give a medical insurance and free
medicine to these young people, who are in danger at
any moment for the falling of the rocks over them ,sunburns
…etc. I also suggested to the kindergarten to take
care of my son and to take the children to Amrit in
order to draw paintings of the Ruins there and I
promised to put them in my exhibition of photography
and painting, which will be held soon and most of
its paintings will be inspired from the
archeological scenes of Amrit”
Talal has used his
specialization in computer and electronic networks
to construct a website about Amrit ,after Hanna has
presented it and he is also one of the volunteers
,for free.
The site ((www.amrit-syria.com))
is of course not commercial. “ Our ignorance about
Amrit was a strong slap for us ,so we decided that
our mission is to make everybody know”, Talal
explains and continues : “Nobody should be ignorant
of the civilization and culture of his region and it
is not acceptable to keep the valuable information
in this way. Our mission is to make people know up
to date, so everybody can play the his role as a
watcher and as a responsible person”
“ When the hands became too
many the work atmosphere became more interesting and
shovels started to pick up sands and throw them in
wagons, and I found myself here in Amrit in Azar
cemeteries in the History of my city , I found
myself in a sweet lighting dream”. That’s what
Nagham has written (graduated from the Fine
arts college) describing the atmosphere of the
voluntary work that achieved too much not only in
saving the city, but also in the personal aspect for
each volunteer. Amrit has become a part of their
daily activity and their relationships with each
other.
Nagham has his own story
with Amrit. He was abroad for a long time and as
soon as he came back he joined the volunteers team
to save this archeological city . “ I can’t describe
my feeling when I’m inside the ground searching for
history, today I use my specialization and all of my
possibilities to serve this goal, I’m now making
paintings about the site and organize work among the
volunteers, our mission is hard and long , winter
will come soon and we are still asking for
enlightening the place at night and constructing a
room for the guards to protect them from cold, our
demand is not responded yet ,too many difficulties,
but we are full of hope that we will succeed and
make a change”
“Civilization was created by
people and people must work hard to preserve it …”
says Hisham and adds: “ we don’t emulate the
Directorate of Antiquities and Museums in their job,
but we are working in order to let each person
takes his role as each responsible person must take
his role. Till when shall we stay the prisoners of
routine?”
Tony also emphasizes “
Amrit is dear for me, I can’t keep quiet about the
violations that are happening, what we want to do is
to keep the heritage and save these treasures we
have. There is no personal benefit or material gains
behind our work ,but by its relationships our soul
will be enriched and our life will take a new
meaning”
The experience of voluntary
made a remarkable change in the personal life for
each volunteer. For example Talal was determined to
go abroad and “search for his humanity” in another
country. But he found it here in his relationship
with others and in what was under masses of rubbish,
with a civilization that goes back to thousands
years. Hisham continued his university study and
made Amrit and the violation it’s been through the
title of his graduation letter as a lawyer.
The Phoenician Amrit is not
only an archeological city, but it is also a great
national project can bring benefits on the city of
Tartus and many unemployed young people, there is no
excuse for neglecting it??
Bisan
Al-bunni
Translated by: Anas Abbas
http://www.daralhayat.com/society/youth/09-2005/Item-20050918-6a321658-c0a8-10ed-0026-faf2cf6667be/story.html
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