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My name is Cristy and in 2012 my family and I had to move to Lebanon because of the Syrian Civil War. My family and I were thankfully still together, however, one year later, my dad had to move to the U.S. Three years after that, my sister, mother and I joined my father in the States.

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Being in the U.S. I often found myself and my family subjected to false stereotypes by different people. When we said we were from the Middle East, or we would talk Arabic to each other, we would frequently get looks in return. I wanted to combat these stereotypes and show Aleppo and the Middle East, in a way that people might not know of as much. I wanted to show what Aleppo looks like despite the war. I wanted to share the stories and experiences of Aleppians without altering their story to fit my narrative. 

This website allows me to do that. I have an "article" section where I have written personal narratives, research articles as well as spotlight articles. I also have an "interview" page where I have the transcripts and audio recordings from different interviews that I conducted that permit people to share their story. Finally, I have an "Images and Videos" section that has various pictures and videos of Aleppo that were taken recently in order to show a different view of Aleppo than that of destruction which is usually associated with it. I also have an online book which documents my process in more details, has the articles, interviews as well as my learning journal. 

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I wanted to focus on what Syria has to offer instead of what it is lacking, which is what people know most about. I offered a different perspective than the one people often hear of when it comes to Syria and the Middle East by revealing a side of Syria that people don't know as much about.