‘Om Mohammad’ is in her fifties whom passers-by got used to seeing her in the same place since the beginning of the war.
She lost her husband in the war and was compelled to migrate from Homs old neighborhoods to Damascus. Now, she is the sole breadwinner for three daughters.
Om Mohammad sells bread at the sidewalk every day from the early hours in the morning until sunset, even during the coldest days.
She points out the reason why she is working in a vocation that was once limited only for men, saying to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that after the death of her husband she found herself obliged to be “the father and the mother at the same time”.
Amid the chaos and security turmoil in most of the regime-ruled regions, she talked about the challenges she faces to get the bread from the bake-house. While there is a huge number of bread sellers in the spot where she stands, Om Mohammad has a wide-experience in attracting the customers by keeping the bread in Nylon bags to look warm.
In March, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said about 511,000 people had been killed in the Syrian war since it began seven years ago.
The Observatory said it had identified more than 350,000 of those killed.
For the first time, women were chosen as bus drivers in a competition announced by the Syrian Trading Company. Abeer Thamimi is one of them, and she said that her need for the salary gave her the courage to apply for the vacancy.
