I'm Rabia from Aleppo.
I'm forty-three years old.
I have twelve children
and I've eight grandsons.
My daughters are here now, but my parents are still in Syria.
Our life in Syria was so good..
We had a shop, a car and some flats for rent.
Our life was good.
Life was good and everything was accessible.
We came to Turkey when the bombing started to get harder,
we lost our house.
We came directly to Ankara.
We asked our relatives on the phone. They had come here before us.
They told us that the rents here for a big family are not so high.
Because I have no one to work..
They said life is good here
And really, if we had come to another city things wouldn't be the same.
I worked with my husband to make a living,
without needing anyone.
For example, I don't have a passport, I came illegally.
There was no one in the border.
No one..
I mean they saw us, but nobody bothered us.
When we first came, as a family we had no one.
Kids are still young..
Their father was a bit sick.
He was sick with us at home, he couldn't work so much.
First, I used the sign language.
then my neighbour started to teach me.
I slowly learned some words.
"Kimyon" (cumin) is "kammon".
"Nane" (mint) is the same..
Rice is the same..
They make it the same way.
I don't get close to people when it's hard to understand each others.
And thank god, neighbours here are so nice and they love us.
As much as you respect your self, people will respect you..
I hadn't seen my daughter for three years.
Since three months only, I knew where she is.
My daughter, she was living with her husband's family.
Shelling was getting harder in Hanano.
We had a phone to contact with her.
We lost the phone..
We went to their flat. We've found out that they've already left.
So I came to Turkey.
She didn't know where I was; I didn't know where she was.
In the end, we found each others,
after two years and seven months.
Having a big family was harder..
Specially the young ones..
Married ones were already married..
Kids need to eat and drink first, also to live in a peaceful area.
Kids got afraid more than anyone.
When aircrafts happened, I could never sleep.
That's the worst thing.
Also if you have girls, you worry about them,
from anything, I mean..
This is how the women feel towards their daughters,
so that they do not to get any insult.
Here my girls are at home and they don't go out a lot.
They don't go anywhere.
I spend the time at home with the kids. Maybe a meal, a visit..
But here, you need to make a living. That's the difference.
For the kids not to need anything
or if they got sick..
Before, everything was available to them.
I didn't used to worry about anything.
But now, if you didn't work, how will they live?
You have to work..
I'm working with my husband to offer a good life for the kids.
I just want to have ID cards for them (the children),
in case they got sick or in case of an aid probability.
For us personally, we're not asking for anything.
Just the ID cards..
No more, no less..
I don't want more or less..
Just to make a living..
We don't want more money or anything..
But in this war, even the rich people they no longer have money.
I swear.. All the people are kind of the same now.
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