Iman Hamoud, wife of Kamal Shtaiwi, arranges dishes in the kitchen of their home in the Wadi al-Sayeh street in the central city of Homs, Syria, May 29, 2019. Kamal Shtaiwi, 58, enjoys returning to his home with his wife and four children, even though it is surrounded by the destruction of war. TO GO WITH Feature: Displaced Syrian family back "home, sweet home" amid rubble (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)
by Hummam Sheikh Ali
HOMS, Syria, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Kamal Shtaiwi, 58, enjoys returning to his home with his wife and four children, even though it is surrounded by the destruction of war.
Located in the Wadi al-Sayeh street in Homs city in central Syria, Shtaiwi's house stands amid the rubble of the battles that once took place in the area and ended with the defeat of the rebels in the city in 2014.
Inside, the house consists of two rooms. The bedroom has no beds but mattresses laid on the ground. The living room has no couches, but cushions on the ground, and an old TV set.
To the left, a very small kitchen and even a smaller bathroom are located.
The surroundings look eerily empty and the destruction is seen all around. However, for this family, sitting outside their home in the morning and looking far in the destruction has become a routine.
They sit on broken chairs outside their home and even spread the laundry in an empty damaged shop next door.
They even enjoy the cool breeze when it blows in their direction, which even holds sad memories for all of them.
Shtaiwi and his family were still in their homes when the rebels took over the area, but when the battles intensified, they had to flee.
However, his decision came a little later as he lost his daughter by the shelling in the area. His wife got wounded but survived.
Shtaiwi sought refuge in the capital Damascus and in the northern countryside of Homs before he returned home when the battles ended.
The scene at first struck him as the rubble was enshrouding his home. However, the happiness of returning home took over and empowered him to fix it with the help of humanitarian organizations.
"When we returned, we found rubble all around the house, but in spite of all of that I was happy, because everything can be fixed," he said to Xinhua.
When people return to their homes, the area would return as beautiful as it used to be, so people should return and start fixing their homes, he added.
The man, who is a state employee, told Xinhua that he was the first to actually return to his home in Wadi al-Sayeh and he uses a bicycle to shop for his home as no taxis or public transportation reach his home.
"I was the first to return to the neighborhood and I encourage every person to return, so we were the only ones in this area," he said.
"As the rents were so high and we could not afford such prices, we figured that we could fix our home with the money for rent. We remain indoors in the night because there are a lot of dogs outside," he added.
His wife said that when she returned home, she stayed without doors or windows to shield her. However, the feeling of being home again was enough for her to stay encouraged.
"I wasn't scared for staying here at first without a door or window, because I felt safe just for the idea that I returned home. I cleaned the house and we are living here now," she said.
