Hope Teaches Wellness and Instills Confidence!

Years back, I was in an appointment somewhere with my kids-now youth, then one of my sons saw a magazine cover that was on one of the shelves. My kid was learning to read and the magazine cover was eye catchy. A Hijabi lady crying, and her home and the entire neighborhood behind her in…

Shama Farag

December 8, 2024

2–3 minutes

History, Stories, Storytelling, Syria

My son turned to me and asked, “Why this Muslim lady is crying and what happened to her house?”

At this time, when my kids were much younger, I taught them that TVs can’t be our only source of information. People need to ask questions and scroll down realities or reliable resources for data.

So, it was my son’s first time to learn about the Syrian Civil War and inquire about what happened because of a magazine cover.

As a parent, it was awkward and challenging at this time to share a sad story without teaching hate to a youngster.

Back in 2016-2017, it seemed like so many folks were interested to learn more about the issue and wanted their kids to learn, but the topic was perplexing for any kid’s psyche.

I came up with an idea to publish Hi, I’m Syrian book to inform and educate. This was my first published book and I’m thankful that it was well recieved!

I tried my best to put a beautiful hopeful open ending to a sad story everyone was heartbroken to experience and witness.

I chose to write it this way, because I beleive in hope and how hope can change our mindsets and help our humanity to move on beyond greed, beyond hate, beyond wars and evils.

My Illustrator is Dr. Samar Hassan. A well versed physician and a dedicated volunteer, and my co-illustrator in this book is a talented artist Issey Ammann, a Japanese American refugee, who believed in my story and supported these efforts to raise awareness about our Syrian brothers and sisters.

Hi, I’m Syrian, is a realistic sad story that ends with hope.

Checkout Hi, I’m Syrian!
Published in 2017

Hurt teaches fear and despair. Hope teaches wellness and confidence.
Talk about hope and eventually, people will restore resilience and emotional strength.

Interested to get a copy from Hi, I’m Syrian? Just email us to get your signed author copy at

Have feedback? Send an email to

Shama_farag@outlook.com

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Author

Written by

Shama Farag

Shama Farag is a bilingual Egyptian American author who graduated the school of science with a master’s degree in Botany at the University of Ain Shams in Cairo, Egypt. She worked as a Plant Researcher at Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture, then along the years Shama switched to blogging, writing and translation after her studies in Technical Writing at the University of Washington, Creative Writing at Wesleyan University, Digital Storytelling Techniques at the University of Houston System, and Writing for Young Readers at Commonwealth Trust. Shama Earned a Diploma in Islamic Theology from International Online University. Shama is the Head of Writing at Farah Saeed Trust, a former Chief Editor of Little Farah Magazine, and she used to blog for many Arabic media outlets like Aljazeera, Arabic-post dot com, and Bnfsj Magazine. Also, she is a member of many organizations that promotes honoring cultures and promoting equity and mutual understanding. Shama has many self-published books in both Arabic and English languages. She is the Author of Egyptian Food Made Easy (all rights reserved), I’m Different…I’m Special!, Mrs. Z, the Substitute!, Hi, I’m Syrian, “Kermalak” and “Garti Tagret Al-Hashiesh” Arabic Novels, Arabic Practice Guide for Non-Arabic Native Speakers Level one and Level two. Her latest work is “The Talking Tree. A Look into Race”. All her publications are available on this website, on Amazon, and Harvard Book Store and many other online bookstores.

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