“My library is with me now, the Assad army can’t burn it again.” That is was what I say to the people who gave me the”Kobo E-reader” as a present and consolation for my burned library.
My name is Ibrahim Khatib, from Taftanaz, Syria.
I graduated from Aleppo University, Faculty of Arts and Humanities-english literature. I had collected about four hundred books in my library; novels such as ” Pride and Prejudice”, “Silas Marner” and “Wuthering Heights”, plays such as ” Anthony and Cleopatra”, “Doctor Faustus” and “Waiting for Godot” and poetry by Wordsworth and Coleridge.
The Assad army and his barbarian gangs burnt my house on the third of April 2012. My furniture, computer and my library were destroyed. I lost about four hundred books of english literature. I entered my burned house and saw what was my library, now only ashes.
At that time, I felt that Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, John Milton and Jane Austen died again, this time at the hands of Assad’s gangs.
His barbarian soldiers do not know about people who love books and keep them like their baby. Really, I was the father of four hundred babies and they were all killed.
That terrorist president who is killing children in Homs and Idlib can also burn books and masterpieces. The regime who burn the culture of other civilisations wants Syria to be under developed.
I was hopeless for two weeks then I refreshed my power and established an organisation called “Taftanaz Students Group” and we publish a magazine called “Revolutionary Words” to enlighten my people and to be more civilised . We need to know that the importance of books is equal to the gun and even more important when Assad goes.
Ian Pannell, the reporter of BBC, came to my house to witness this massacre, the killing of literature. He told his people in Britain about what happened in Syria.
After two months, I received a present, the “Kobo e reader” which is a perfect library. It is easy to use , saves a lot of books and encourages me to read more. Really, it is the civilised window for every reader.
I thank all who helped me to have this perfect means to save all my books in the future.
Ibrahim Khatib
