ZAKHO, Kurdistan Region - A Kurd from northeast Syria (Rojava) sells liquorice juice in Duhok province’s Zakho administration. He is a graduate of a Syrian military college but had to flee the country due to the civil war.
Azad Shami is from Rojava’s Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) town but migrated to Zakho a decade ago after civil war at home escalated. Shami is a graduate of the Syrian army’s military college, specialising in aviation.
“I was conscripted into the [Syrian] army in 2005. I served in al-Kiswa city… Then I entered the second phase in Jabal al-Sheikh at the Syrian intelligence’s observatory point on the Lebanese border. I was transferred to Homs where I learned how to change codes,” he told Rudaw's Hunar Rasheed on Monday.
His financial condition has forced him to sell liquorice juice. He prepares the juice at home in a special way and sells it in the bazaar. The preparation of the juice requires three stages.
“The liquorice juice is ready and I am going to sell it in the bazaar to make ends meet. It is true that my work has nothing to do with my degree in engineering and I sell the juice at 50 degrees Celsius but it is better than relying on others,” he said.
Shami says he does not enjoy his work but has no other option.
