Late into the night

May the peace be with you and all of Allah’s Blessings follow you always, my dear sisters.
The story I want to share with you today happened shortly after my arrival into the refugee camp in Syria. It will be, once again, about soldiers, since what would my life have been like without them? They are, definitely, an inseparable part of each and every story I remember from the time I spent into the camp.
Previously, I told you how soldiers in charge with the so-called security entered into our tents any time they wanted – no matter it was day or night. There were times when they were bursting into our tents mostly during the night, in order to commit robbery. And their arrival occurred late into the night, when all the camp sank into silence, peace and a deep sleep.
To me and likely to many others living in our little village, this was the most scaring period of time from all our staying into the camp. Therefore, during this period of time I had a very light sleep, paying attention to every noise. Usually, during the night, the car bringing the military into the camp was moving very slowly and in case the solders decided to stop by and get out of the car, they would practically walk so that they wouldn’t make any noise. And the tent was opened silently, being quite difficult to hear the entire process. As I was waking up every night after falling asleep for a little while, I could hear the soldiers entering almost every neighboring tent, but, until a certain moment, Allah had protected me and, up until that moment, they had never visited my tent. But ultimately, on a given day, my time has come also.
That night, as usual, I was falling asleep and waking up at each and every noise, as all kinds of sounds were reaching my tent. When I woke up once again, I heard how the door from my tent was being opened gently, in silence. Of course, I made the smart decision and pretended to be asleep. Although I hate lying or playing games, that night I had to act my role and pretend being an actress. So, into my tent had entered two women, while the men had remained outside. The thing I was grateful for is that one rule had always been followed, namely, the fact that men had never entered our tents if the women weren’t dressed up. And maybe, just maybe there was also another reason. I suppose the women soldiers were being jealous that we were so beautiful, and didn’t want us to be seen by their men, but this is a completely different story. And here they are, the two women that had entered into our tent. One of the two was a chief among the military. As you remember, I was pretending to be asleep, while they started to act quite hectic and during this whole time, they were turning everything in the tent upside down, in order to find our mobile phones.
At that point, my husband’s second wife was living together with me in the same tent. We used to store the jewelry boxes in our purses, but the other wife of my husband had a lot more jewelry than I had, mostly made of silver. Into the camp silver was quite cheap, and now and then we could afford to spoil ourselves and sometimes buy such small delights. That time I only had three jewelries. Once I bought a tiny bracelet, and along with it my acquaintance in the camp had also offered me a ring. I have small thin fingers, so the ring was really small. As for the bracelet I couldn’t wear it, as it had a very weak lock and it would constantly open and fall off. My husband’s second wife had way more jewelry than I had and they were way more beautiful, but, by the will of Allah, her belongings remained untouched, while that chief in charge took mine. Of course, it was a shame, as there was hard to find similar ones. It was only the thought that the Almighty could one day return them to me that reassured me. Later on, after a while, I saw that chief in charge that had entered into my tent wearing my bracelet which, unfortunately, hadn’t fallen from her wrist. But, I was satisfied for she wouldn’t be able to wear my ring.
But this wasn’t the most awful part of the story, as the searching hadn’t been finished yet. The woman in charge woke me up, started questioning me, who was I, where did I came from, who is related to whom. Meanwhile, the children woke up also, and, needless to say, they were very scared. But, as they found nothing prohibited into our tent, the two women soldiers left our tent irritated, leaving us behind with all the stress and the suffering. For a long time later on, all my family couldn’t sleep in peace, thinking all the time about the soldiers and fearing for the moment they will burst again at any time into our tent.
Remembering all sort of things experienced into the camp while living there, one can understand the continuous fear felt each and every day. Some of the memories fade off, others appear into one’s mind raising a smile on their face, although, those moments didn’t seem especially amusing, but that’s life.
Despite all this, there is one conclusion I drew having to live into the camp all this time – I hardened myself and became stronger. By the help of Allah, one can always overcome all the problems. He may want to make some of the problems to seem easier, He makes others more difficult, in order to strengthen one’s faith. That faith that sooner or later it will all be gone and the long awaited relief will come.
Asira