I met the nicest old Syrian man last night. The electricity was out at the camp so I lit his path a bit with my flashlight and apologized for no electricity. He spoke no English so I used Arabic/pantomime. He shrugged it off and smiled, telling me that in Syria, it’s normal, the lights are off for four minutes and on four two minutes, then off for four minutes and on for two minutes, etc. Later he came back to ask for blankets for his family. William got out the blankets and when I slipped and dropped them I said “excuse me!” in Arabic. The old man was so happy for my few words of Arabic, his face lit up and he said “Shukran!” [Thank you]. It was like he was thanking me for saying it in Arabic.

– Megan Tucker

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