GUELPH - Syrian refugees across Guelph and Wellington County are adjusting to their new reality about a week after rebels took back the country's capital, freeing Syria from over a decade of civil war.
Not sleeping in the days leading up to rebels seizing control of Syria's largest cities, Guelph Meezan School teacher Azza Hassan said she joked to her husband that the country's capital Damascus would be next before the realization kicked in that this was a real possibility.
"It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen, and I'm so thankful that I lived long enough to see it," said Hassan. "I never thought even in my dreams that something like this would happen. And I think now that people have seen the prisons, the whole world knows why we escaped."
While the Damascus and Aleppo airports remain closed, Hassan said she's excited to take her children to visit Syria in the future – showing them the places from her stories and helping rebuild the country.
"It's not just my family, I'm gonna see my childhood area, my friends, my house," said Hassan. "My house was bombed, it's destroyed but at least I can see what I left behind."
Speaking for her children who were between the ages of eight and two when they left Syria, Hassan said while they're happy, they've started asking questions about the past, which she'd hidden for fear it would ruin their childhoods.
"Before, even if they mentioned (the war) as a joke, I would be like don't talk about it, 'walls have ears' because what we learned is even in Canada, you don't talk about it," said Hassan. "But now I can talk and let me tell you, I'm enjoying it."
Driving to Mississauga last week to celebrate alongside hundreds of other Syrians in Celebration Square, Hassan said it was amazing singing the revolutionary songs out loud and hearing others singing them in person for the first time.
"We were congratulating each other, hugging each other," said Hassan. "This is a miracle. It's something no one expected."
In Wellington County, Erin Refugee Action volunteer Deney Delfosse said the news is still settling in for many of their families.
"They're so happy, but then it's also mixed with they don't know what's really going to happen. so there's some of that trepidation of what's really going to happen," said Delfosse. "There's also so much sadness for those people coming out of prison."
Speaking on these mixed emotions, Hassan said she still feels afraid when speaking against the regime but believes it's important for all Syrians to accept the new changes and find closure.
"That's what I like about Canada – you can be Canadian and another culture too," said Hassan. "It's hope for me, hope that one day my country Syria will understand what freedom is ... it's time now for Syrian people to understand that we can share the country even with our differences."
Personally, Hassan said she keeps thinking about the prisons especially now that she's learned the university she studied at was above one.
"We were walking on prisons. I remember sometimes seeing soldiers with their military outfits, but it never crossed our minds that there were secret doors to go to the basement," said Hassan. "The healing is going to take time."
Despite this, Hassan said she's hopeful the end of the Assad regime means Syria will one day "understand what freedom is."
"It will take a long time; this disease has been in the country for 50 years and it's not going to disappear in a few months,” said Hassan. “There will be difficulties but I have this hope that all Syrians have, that the future will bring new things … a peaceful place to live in."
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.