Even six months after the earthquake, people in Syria hope to see their loved ones again – among them a grandfather who is desperately looking for his grandchildren.
They’re still there on mobile. Grandfather Fadel el Jaber shows the pictures of his loved ones. The farmer sits in front of his small house in a village in southern Syria’s Idlib province and looks at photos on his phone. On it he sees his son, a respected doctor, his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren.
A lanky boy laughs at the camera, his little sister half on his shoulders, a schoolgirl with a white bow in her long hair and a yellow skirt. There were five grandchildren – the youngest was two, the oldest was 14 years old. But none of them are still there.
Earthquake collapsed house
The old man remembers the day of the earthquake. His daughter called him and said that the house in the town of Salkin, where the son lived with his family on the first floor, had collapsed. “We drove there. We got there two, two and a half hours later and found the five-story building completely collapsed.”
Grandfather spent several days there, searching in the rubble. “On the third day, just as the sun was rising, we found his body and buried him,” says Jaber. “In the afternoon we found his wife and four-year-old daughter and little two-year-old son. His name was Mahdy.”
daughter in law and youngest grandson found dead
Any help came too late for the little grandchildren and daughter-in-law. They could only be recovered dead. But where were the others? The three older grandsons – Mohammed, Sham and Sahar? Jaber continued to search the rubble.
“In their rooms we saw the beds and the blankets, but we didn’t find any children. Then the bulldozers cleared everything away.” The neighbors also died. Every family on every floor has suffered casualties, he says. Only his son’s three children could not be found.
Grandfather keeps looking for older grandchildren
Jaber kept looking. He went to the hospital, asked, but no one had seen the children. “We also asked the White Helmets’ helpers, but they told us they had documented all cases, there were no unknown bodies here. We went to all the hospitals, but to no avail,” says Jaber.
So maybe the kids are still alive? But where are they? Jaber doesn’t give up. There is a small office in his town that takes care of wanted ads. People who couldn’t be found after the earthquake – buried, lost, missing. An employee says hundreds of missing persons cases have been documented in the area. But there were many bodies that we could not identify.
Situation in the north-west still catastrophic
Even six months after the earthquake, the situation in north-west Syria is still considered catastrophic: Many people live in tent camps and there is a lack of clean drinking water and medical care. Disease spreads in the heat.
Jaber’s house has remained standing. Summer is here. Everything is growing in the small garden and the pomegranates are slowly getting ripe. But how is he supposed to be happy? The old man carefully takes the fruit in his hand. Half a year has passed, but he still hasn’t found his three grandchildren.
Our life is without joy, it hurts so much. We want to know what happened to them, if they are alive. Maybe they live with a nice family who takes good care of them. I don’t think they are dead. They are definitely alive and well – and I hope that God will bring us together again.
Jaber: “I hope so much to see her again soon”
Jaber goes up the stony rise. The cemetery is on a hill. Most graves are fresh. His son, his daughter-in-law, his two small grandchildren are lying there.
Every Friday he goes to the cemetery with his wife to visit his son, his wife and the children’s graves. “We’re staying here for a while – and then I’ll tell my son that I haven’t found his three children yet. But I really hope to see them again soon.”