"About five years ago. I came here when it was the beginning of the revolution in Syria. And by chance, I guess, I got here at just the right time for me.""First of all, we felt so happy that people had finally expressed their anger and refused this dictatorship. [The government of Bashar al-Assad], they own the country and it was hell for us. When they started the uprisings, everybody was saying: 'Syrians will not come [out]. They will not, they cannot, because this is a regime that is so violent and so criminal.'"I was still there for the first three or four months. My friends were part of that. Some of them were captured, some were in prison, some of them died under torture. So, for me, it was really a shock, because we used to hear about this regime and how criminal it is, but to see it in front of your eyes is surprising."The first year [of protests in 2011], the people were like: 'We want democracy! We want freedom! We want security!' The people didn’t say: 'We don’t want the regime.' They were hopeful that the regime would change their policies. But when the thing started with the children in the school of Daraa , people they couldn’t accept that. [Editor's note: After writing anti-government slogans on the wall, children and teenage boys were arrested and tortured by al-Assad's forces.] From that, it changed very very dramatically. And the response from the regime was to attack the whole city. Cities, actually. Now, only Damascus and a few other cities are still standing."In my nature, I cannot be silent. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. For me, for us as Syrians, it’s so dangerous when you just speak against the regime or against what’s happening."