Gaziantep
Gaziantep was the city that smelled like Aleppo. Working here meant touching Syria again, if only through the reports and stories that crossed the border every day. It was the bridge between my past and my future in Washington.
Cross-Border Programming
Began working at Chemonics International on USAID Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) Syria programs. This was cross-border programming—operating from southern Turkey to support communities, local councils, and civil society actors inside Syria.
The Rigor of Development
This role was an intense education in the mechanics of large-scale, US government-funded development. It required meticulous monitoring, evaluation, and reporting. It was the first time my professional work directly touched my home—Damascus, Aleppo, and the Idlib countryside—since I had fled.
Professional Milestone
Data meets impact
Translating the chaotic reality of a conflict zone into structured, actionable reports that drove funding decisions.
Field Correspondent, Continued
Syrian Revolution Network · Human Voice · Radio Rozana · 2014–2015
Gaziantep closed the freelance reporting chapter that had run since Dubai. The last dispatches for Syrian Revolution Network, Human Voice, and Radio Rozana — filed from the border city where the cross-border programming and the journalism finally met in the same place: inside Syria itself.