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PART OF MY job in Syria is to document the horrific experiences of ordinary people caught in the middle of the ongoing bloody conflict. However, it often strikes me that I could largely fulfil my mission without ever leaving GOAL’s office in northern Syria. For nowhere are there sadder tales of loss and suffering than amongst my close friends and colleagues on the GOAL staff, who spend every working hour helping alleviate the pain of others.
Ali was one of the first people GOAL recruited in Syria. A former student of architecture, he now holds quite a senior position in our 55-strong team.
The only time I have ever heard Ali swear was when he was telling me of the time an aerial bomb hit a small mosque in his town during Friday prayers, and killed more than 70 people: “My grandfather told me that at least the French respected a mosque. France is not even a Muslim country, but when we were fighting them for independence, if someone took refuge in a mosque, the French would not enter it. But these f…..s attack our mosques. They have no right to call themselves Muslim.”
The attack took place only a matter of weeks before GOAL arrived to set up base in Ali’s hometown. A larger mosque is still standing, but it too has been badly damaged by bombs, rockets and gunfire.
Ali’s grandfather was probably speaking shortly after his own family had been touched by the violence. His son (Ali’s father) had been walking in the street with a nephew when he was shot by a sniper. The bullet passed through him and struck the younger man (Ali’s cousin), killing them both. “My mother and aunt will never recover,” Ali says, matter-of-factly.
Image: GOAL
Jasmine is a member of one of GOAL’s aid distribution teams. I had known her a few months before she happened to mention that she holds a degree in law. Intrigued, I asked her about her studies, and during our chat the story of her best friend Anna emerged: “Like me, Anna was a law student at Aleppo University. She was a brilliant student, the best in our year. One day in 2011 Anna was taking part in a protest march, when someone bumped up against her and she felt a sharp pain in her side. She had been stabbed by an undercover agent. It was such a small wound, with hardly any blood, that Anna thought she would be alright. But later she collapsed, and some friends brought her back to the university. Anna died that night. She was only 20. We wrapped her body in a piece of carpet so the police wouldn’t find her, and smuggled her out of the university, and brought her home to her parents. Anna was very quiet and never talked about politics, so we were surprised that she went to the demonstration. But her parents told us that her brother had been shot and killed by the army, and Anna was very angry about it. She had never told anyone because the family was afraid of reprisals. They didn’t want Anna’s death made public either.”
Jasmine is weeping at this point, and I apologise for raising such painful memories. “No, no! Don’t be sorry, David. I wanted to tell you about Anna.”
Image: GOAL
Amira, one of GOAL’s team leaders, is originally from Damascus. Her father was an airline pilot. He was arrested at Damascus airport nearly two years ago and held on unspecified charges. He has not been heard of since. The family fled north to escape the harassment – and probably worse – that would inevitably follow his arrest. “Our father will come back to us, Insha’Allah. And someday we will return to Damascus. I am a daughter of Damascus, and I want to go home,” she says simply.
And so the stories go on. Ahmed’s wife was shot by a sniper as she walked in the street with their three children. She is now paralysed from the neck down. Mohammed lost two brothers in the mosque attack mentioned above.
Over the past 10 months or so, many of my colleagues have recounted something of their lives to me, and I never fail to be shocked and saddened by what they have been through.
And new hurts are being created all the time.
On Friday past, during a team training session, Mustapha had suddenly to leave us, having just received word that his older brother had been shot and killed.
The latest UN estimate is that during the past two-and-a-half years more than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria (the true figure is probably closer to twice that number). Virtually every one of these people lost his or her life to so-called conventional weapons, yet the world chooses to ignore this, and instead obsesses about chemical weapons.
Is it any wonder that every Syrian I speak to, including my GOAL colleagues, has become convinced that they and their loved ones are considered expendable. Wouldn’t you, in similar circumstances?
The names and positions of the GOAL staff in this article have been changed to protect them and their families from possible reprisals. David Adams is a Media & PR Officer at GOAL.
GOAL is one of only a few aid agencies that is working inside Syria. The organisation has been delivering aid since last October, and is now supplying a monthly food ration to 120,000 people every month. GOAL is also distributing vouchers to 133,000 people per month. These vouchers can be redeemed at certain local stores for goods of the recipients’ choice. Please visit www.goal.ie to donate, or find out more about GOAL’s programmes.
Syria UN figures:
Why on earth would Supervlaue Pairc even be considered… is this a joke? Am I missing something?
@Justanothercommentor: Ali Sami Yen Stadium-Welcome to Hell.
Supervalu Pairc-Real Food Real People
@Justanothercommentor: SVP need the money
@Justanothercommentor: yes, they bought the rights to the name. The amazing thing is that it cost so little
What next? Cork play the Dubs in the newly named Krispy Kreme Park formerly known as Croke Park.
@Chaotic State:
Sign of the times, the family do not have an eternal right to the naming of the stadium. The GAA also needs to move on from naming stadiums, clubs and pitches after those from 1916, 1921 and priests.
@Paul Fahey: you should be ashamed of yourself, another fella who wants to cancel our history. You’d be singing God Save The King if it wasn’t for those ppl who died for this country. Show some respect ye blue shirt.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: Well said. We are being forced to obliterate our history and our culture.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: wow, that is some leap of nonsense you are making there. If your history is decided by the naming of a stadium built many many years after any event the individual was born in that says more about you. History is far more than a stadium, perhaps if you read a book, not only would your history improve, but your grammar too.
@Jimmy Wallace: I’ve never heard so much nonsense in my life. Naming a stadium after one of our heroes is to remember them and not some kind of political or religious statement.
You might not care about the ppl who shaped our country and history but I’d like to think most of us want to hang onto our identity and culture.
@Paul Fahey: you’re a waffler.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: And so what if he does,that’s his opinion and like you he’s just expressing it
@Deano: I must be arguing with a bunch of millennials because there’s no other explanation why they don’t understand the importance of hanging onto our heritage and not selling it off to a supermarket or crisp bag company.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: just for the record I personally think naming it SuperValu park sounds ridiculous.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: a lot of millennials well into their 40s now … and are fully aware of and understand our heritage .. by the way as was seen in another stadium in Cork .. naming rights are only temporary .. cute cork lads .. take the money then change it back in a few years once the contract is up!!
@Paul Fahey: Would you be for Croke Park being renamed Aldi stadium?
@stephen “emmams5” malone: maybe we’d be better off if we were singing god save the king or queen. That crowd in the Dail might be held accountable for some of the crazy decisions they make. Usually those decisions just happen to be beneficial to a lot of TD acquaintances or families.
@Paul Fahey: I winder what our history buff would think of Pairc ui Perkin Warbeck as a name rooted in Corks history. It would honour the origin of the ‘Rebels’ moniker
@Fidgenti: Perk Ui Warbeck?
@stephen “emmams5” malone:
The GAA is for everyone…. who is a white, catholic nationalist.
You people are just like Nigel Farage
@Niall Walsh: What are you talking about?
@Aindriu MacCuartaigh:
I don’t like the promotion of nationalism. It has an unpleasant history. All these grounds named after political and catholic figures doesn’t sit well with me. By it’s nature it excludes those who aren’t part of the republican/catholic cohort.
My problem.
@Niall Walsh: Therefore, we should only call our stadiums/streets/roads/ to those who have no religious affiliation and who see themselves as just a citizen of the world.
Would you become an avid GAA fan then?
@Aindriu MacCuartaigh:
Avid might be a bit of a stretch, but who knows?
@Niall Walsh: Fair enough. To each their own I suppose!
@Phil Mitchell: Dude? That’s the terminology that Varadkar would use..He and Flanagan would probably want to name it after a Black and Tan .
@stephen “emmams5” malone: stop talking rot FFS! Another “patriot” who if he was around in 1920 would have been hiding under the bed. Time to decommission your rusty rifle and move into 2024!
I’m sick of hearing about the GAA been grass roots to our local communities,and at the same time destroying it,The top Men in their offices are making these decisions,they are destroying the game slowly,especially the hurling,so many rules and regulations,Where is all their money going,where I live the GAA are constantly looking for money,they sold a book at Xmas,€50 for the book,and if u played GAA the pictures they put into the book of the teams,if u wanted your name under it,u had to pay another €50,their is no 1 keeping a check where all the big game money is going,all I ever see is people in the communities giving up their time for the love of it and for the kids aswell..Grab All Assocation,is living up too it’s name once again
Modern Ireland, everything is up for sale.
The Kerry Group should have submitted a bid
At the end of the day its all about greed and money … Supervalu dangles a few euros in front of the GAA and they bite their hand off…
@mark mc cann: where are Supervalue getting all this spare cash ? From the people who pay throught the nose for their food Don’t think to many people would be impressed with SUPERVALUE PARK SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED HAPPEN
In all honesty if you asked most people who the stadium was named after they probably couldn’t tell you who it was. I know that there was major overspend in the construction of that stadium so money probably had to be clawed back. The super value stadium sounds Mickey Mouse though.
Here’s an idea…. why doesn’t Mr Martin contact some vulture fund buddies to buy the stadium outright for 30 million. They could then lease it back to the GAA at 5 million a year for the next 25 years. Seems to be the plan in other areas and he could collect a finders fee as well. Sorted.
If it ain’t broke…
@Maire Hicks: But the GAA is broke.
Actually thought April Fools had come early, Cork people need to quick a fuss ASAP…
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, this smacks someone who knows the price of everything and the calue of nothing. Next Croke Park will be The Kentucky Fried Chicken Stadium.
@Joseph Lenihan: KFC. It changed its name.
Just 4 words. NO,NO and NO..
@John Flynn: That’s one word three times, with a coordinating conjunction between them.
I don’t care about the renaming of stadiums and I care even less about GAA but SuperValue Park ? Jesus what numpty thought that was a good idea. Not a fan of SV branding anyway and it just sounds cheap.
I have a feeling the county board are playing a blinder. Throw out the worst idea to the public let the up roar begin and pull it back in by compromise with super value pairc caoimh. Everyone happy. If they started with SVPC the up roar might scupper the plan.
I must say it’s a really beautiful stadium since they reopened it in 2019 I think .
Great place to see a game . I’m thinking of a lovely evening in Cork back in May when Tipperary played Cork in a drawn game.
It’s ridiculous to change the name especially to a supermarket brand . No one is ever going to call it by its new name anyway so why bother .
Oh and Up Tipp!
It’s not like anybody in Ireland hasn’t heard of SuperMac’s, so why the need for expensive naming rights, that’s what I can’t understand?
@Tom: for the same reason that Coke and Guinness continue to advertise. Keeping the brand prominent !
@Tom:
It’s SuperVaue. Not SuperMac’s
@Geraldine O’Riordan: oops
Should call it Musgrave Pairc after SuperValu’s parent company
@Michael Barry: especially now that Musgrave Park is called Virgin Media Park.
Also, Musgraves are one of the companies that kept Cork’s economy above water in the dismal 80s. They helped other family owned retailers survive the onslaught of Ben Dunnes vicious price wars. People speak of heroes; well Musgrave’s are heroes.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: Our identity and culture consists of far more than the names of nationalist political/military figures. Your reading of it is simplistic.
@Brendan O’Brien: that’s rich coming from you, having to put up up with your liberal leftie drivel on a daily basis, if you had your way, we would have no history, culture and identity.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: We will always have history, culture and identity. I recognise that such things are complex and multifarious: you don’t.
@Brendan O’Brien: with the speed the direction this country has taken in the last 20 years, do you honestly think in another 20 years that ppl will have any clue what it means to be Irish. For you be so blaisé about our history , culture and identity shows naivety and a complete lack of understanding.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: I’m not blasé: I just don’t think we should obsess about long-dead gunmen to the exclusion of other aspects of our history and heritage. I think such obsessing does a disservice to real examination and understanding of ‘what it means to be Irish’.
Not saying it’s right but why don’t they call it SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh. It won’t solve everything but might appease some. Just to disregard the name is a real blunder by them
Get over it. They’re even worse than the Newcastle fans when Mike Ashley decided to rename St. James’ Park. And what happened then? The Geordies ended up carrying on referring it as St. James’ Park, despite what Ashley wanted, and the place didn’t fall down.
The same will happen with Supervalu Park. (Unless BAM built it)
Unless Mehole wanted Supervalu to get the naming rights for Leinster House, after all, he is fond of selling out, isn’t he?
Time to set up a “Buoycott Supervalu” campaign- the commercialisation of Irish Heritage needs to be met with an appropriate proportional commercial public reaction
How bout Abrakebabra Páirc…genius right. Now all we have to do is get onto the good people at Abrakebabra.
Move with the times i think. Gaa squeeze every penny out fans sure why wouldnt they rename it .
@Robert Doogan: Any facts with that lie.
They shoukd call it lgbtqi…… Park because these people are never recognised.
Just to add a bit of distraction, could we at least insist on respecting the grammar? In Irish, the noun comes before the adjective, so the proposed name should be ‘Páirc SuperValu’, not SuperValu Páirc, which is just painful….
Why not call it Super Valu Páirc Uí Chaoimh? Kilkenny sold the naming rights for Nowlan Park and retained the Nowlan Park name and just put UPMC at the start
Don’t forget your club card
Hand the country back to His Majesty King Charles III & apologise.
They opened the gate to commercialism. when they hid inter county games behind a pay wall with Sky and then they continued down this commercial road with GAA Go in partnership with RTE and now this.
While all this commercialism is building into a mega bucks corporation the people who provide their product must be happy with scraps in the form a bit of expenses and maybe their photo in the paper.
Its time the players stopped this nonsense and demand their fair share of the spoils.
Really can’t understand the problem,alot of counties have done this deal,cavan,mayo,offaly and my own county springs to mind,it’s officially TUS Gaelic Grounds but it’s always called the gaelic grounds,same in offaly,Cork need money,why not take handy money
Absolutely disgraceful by the Cork board and the souless Supervalu name grab.
When this is concluded remove all Cork County board senior members from their positions.
“He who pays the piper calls the tune…” as the saying goes. Fair enough, I suppose, but unfortunately, in this case, the tune is somewhat jarring, to say the least…
@William Tallon: Better than Lidl Pairc or Aldi Pairc. Tesco Pairc.
@Fidgenti: Or Dealz! Yikes…
Has a Tayto Park ring to it. Awful proposition.
As if this traitor who pushed the deadly vaccine, mass unchecked immirgration, and is a WEF member, cares for cultural names of stadia. Sad time for Eirú.
He’s more enraged about that than he is about the genocide in Gaza….. strange days indeed . As for ” SUPERVALU ” stadium , well , expect more of that in the future. Cash for naming rights . Sign of the times , capitalism like a runaway train at this stage. Nothing is sacred anymore , cemeteries will be next . ” This headstone is proudly brought to you by … SUPERVALU , Eircom , Aer Lingus , Cunnylingus … take your pick .
@Pete Murrey: really ? .. i suggest you do more research sunshine, a lot more .
@Pete Murrey: do some research… now , read that again .
Every little bit helps.
Supervalu should pull out and give their money to someone else
Martin ur nothing but a snide. Bo ll ock
Irish out of Ireland park
Only football field name it whatever they like and give gaa nothing
The real question here is how the Central GAA & Government allowed such a project spiral out of control in the first place, when being built. Did neither body have Project Managers in place overseeing the Millions been pumped in, or was a certain individual allowed free rein.They are so desperate for money now, they would name it Páirc Dildo.
Government should buy Páirc and use it as an event centre. The debt on that place is never ending.
What about lansdown?
Posters decrying the silly name changing in persuit of pieces of silver, yet have no issue with the many streets/estates throughout the land named after colonial ner do well and little English estates. forget history/Culture at your peril
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