Videos

This account of a young German tourist's recent visit to Damascus can be found on this Youtube site. A comment on the YouTube page captures the impressions one gets from the tourist's short stay in Damascus: This was beautiful. So much history here. The architecture is still amazing after all these years. Thank you for sharing.    

In September 2019 on a visit to Damascus, I interviewed Athar, a Syrian woman who has been in her church scout group since she was 15 years old. We chatted in Beit Jabri, a popular restaurant in old Damascus. Athar explained that her scout group meets once a week for band practice and for activities for the children. Also, at their...

Our new series features Syrian cafés and restaurants in Melbourne and the Syrian Australians who have established them. We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Safi Ayoush, the Syrian Australian owner of Raqwa Café and Beer Garden. Safi was born in Australia, but he spent his formative years in Syria, hence his close connection to Syria. Safi hopes to attract members of the Syrian...

Samir Mardini is a gifted Syrian Australian musician, who performs every week with his brother, Sargon, at Raqwa Café & Beer Garden in Preston, Melbourne, where I interviewed him one Sunday evening.   Samir and Sargon are often invited to perform at weddings and other events at cafes, restaurants and lounges. They are becoming quite well-known within the Arabic communities in...

I was in Damascus for just over a week, and in a taxi with Athar and Rana on our way to the old city. First for a stroll in the Souq Al-Hamidiyah and then onto Beit Jabri for a juice and maybe lunch. It's September 2019. Life has its burdens for the locals, no doubt, but they can still smile....

Martin Luther King's Anti-War Stand Sunday 25 March 2018 - Interviewer: Susan Dirgham - Camera: Sean Hwang 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination. I interviewed people at the Palm Sunday March in Melbourne to bring attention to Martin Luther King's anti-war message and to consider its relevance today. Those interviewed included an Australian Defence Force chaplain and Rev Andreas Lowe, the...

 'Syrian School' (Part 3)  'Being Inspired' Syrian School Episode 3 of 5 Five-part series following a year in the life of four schools in Damascus, a high pressure crossroads in the Middle East. It concentrates on some remarkable characters finding their way in a country that has never before opened ordinary life up to the cameras in this way, challenges the usual cliches of...

In his 1988 LA Times article below, journalist and columnist Charles Wallace captured beautifully Syrians' love for the game of backgammon; the magic of it. (However, in 2020, it should be noted that today if Syrian women don't enter a cafe, it is because they choose not to, not because they dare not.) This game of backgammon in Beit Jabri was...