I grew up in Damascus in a family that cherished the Arabic language. My mother, who was a teacher of Arabic in one of Damascus’s schools, and my Palestinian grandmother, who loved Palestinian Bedouin poetry, nurtured my passion for the language.
I was initially studying law at Damascus University and was active in the theatre department. However, due to our revolution in Syria and the growing power of the dictatorship, I left my home in 2015 seeking freedom and ended up in Germany as an asylum seeker. I decided to leave Syria after witnessing all that Al Assad had done to our country, our people, and my family. Germany was far away from my home and very difficult to learn a completely new and different language. This began my journey of living in exile for 10 years as a refugee in a country I was forced to integrate into.
Due to the immense challenges I had faced being displaced, I wanted to do whatever I could to support my local community, as they faced the same difficulties I had. I was active in helping other refugees around me who were navigating their new lives in a foreign country. This looked like helping them learn a new language, scheduling important appointments, and guiding them through the confusing German bureaucracy. I did lots of volunteer work, particularly involving translating between Arabic and German. All of these experiences led me to founding an initiative with a close friend of mine to put together workshops to further support and empower our community through their hardships.
Through it all, my love for the Arabic language, along with Middle Eastern and North African cultures, remained unwavering. It rooted me to the homeland and people I left, which motivated me to continue to hone it. Seeing the growing interest within Germany in learning Arabic, particularly the Levantine dialect, inspired me to start teaching the language, share my cultural knowledge, and stay closely connected to it. I even integrate it into my own personal musical projects. I play techno in clubs here around the Halle/Leipzig area. I try to incorporate my Arabic roots and influences into my music. For example, my DJ name is the Levantine Shepherd. I always find inspiration in classical Arabic songs and Bedouin musical styles.