Muhammad Najem is a Syrian teenager who has spent more than half of his life desperately trying to survive the brutal conflict in his country. He is from a town called Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, which came to prominence in 2013 after the Syrian Military, under the command of Bashar al-Assad, allegedly fired rockets containing poisonous sarin gas into the suburb. The attack resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,729 people. Despairing about the situation in his country and feeling as though the civilian population was being overlooked, Muhammad took it upon himself to document and broadcast the reality of the conflict for himself, and other children in Ghouta, on social media.
When discussing with me ways to aid in his task, Muhammad expressed an interest in recording a video in which he could talk about some of his experiences of the war and subsequently becoming a refugee, specifically for UK audiences.
Muhammad’s posts can be viewed on Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.
Video Translation: Mohamed Kadri
