Early life in Syria molds human rights advocate

[theHandpuppet]

Cross posted from Appalachia Group.

This is an amazing story (with photo album). I hope everyone will take a few minutes to read this interview with Nahla Nimeh-Lewis.

The Charleston Gazette
Monday, September 22, 2014
Early life in Syria molds human rights advocate
By Sandy Wells, Staff writer

She left the incessant danger and bloodshed in Syria and Lebanon at age 26. In America, in Charleston, West Virginia, she started fresh. She made a name for herself as a civil rights activist, a priority prompted by the tragedies she witnessed almost daily in her homeland.

She tries to keep the sadness at bay, but it tugs at her. She talks tearfully about the murders of her 5-year-old brother, her uncles and neighbors. The government put her outspoken father in jail.

In 1977, Nahla Nimeh-Lewis joined her mother and brother in Charleston. She spoke not a word of English. She spent eight hours every day in the library, reading books with a dictionary to learn the language. She watched television to learn about our culture.

Always, she dreamed of returning someday to Syria. Not now. Not ever. Every day, on the Internet, she checks on family members suffering through the turmoil there. They are safe. So far....

- See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140922/GZ01/140929949/1101#sthash.Vbbb37r7.dpuf