‘Like a war zone’: Syrian student at Davidson has nowhere to go, but he has faced worse

Hani Zaitoun remembers getting an email from Davidson College at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11. School officials were telling students that anyone who could go home, should. But Zaitoun, a transfer student from Syria, knew there was nowhere for him to go.

The email came as a shock to Zaitoun.

“Davidson doesn’t shut down.” he said. “We don’t even have snow days here.”

Almost two months later, the lively spring break party atmosphere he and his friends enjoyed in Cancun the first week of March is a distant memory. Lately, no one seems to care when Zaitoun blasts his music on his porch. That’s because there’s no one around. Not only is the campus mostly empty, but he’s the only one in his apartment building. The Davidson senior used to have three roommates; they’ve all moved out.

“It was kind of sad that we did not (have) as much time as we thought we would,” Zaitoun said.

Before leaving, some of his friends thought a graduation ceremony was still a possibility. Zaitoun wasn’t as optimistic.

On April 6, Davidson announced that the Spring commencement ceremony was postponed and an online celebration will take place May 17.

Like many students, this is an abnormal time for Zaitoun. Classes are online, he’s calling friends more often and he says every day feels the same. But unlike many students, Zaitoun has lived through harrowing experiences that make this displacement relatively easy.

Living in a war zone

Zaitoun paints a picture of what he sees when he walks outside: “If you walk on Main Street some nights, it’s like a war zone without destruction.” After living in war-torn Damascus, he knows the visual well.

Zaitoun grew up in an apartment in central Damascus as the youngest in a family of six. He remembers when the political climate in Syria started to heat up: The mortar-shell bombings. Water shortages. Power outages. He can remember sitting in the dark, doing his school work by candlelight when he was 14 years old.

The 23-year-old has been on his own since 2016 and is no stranger to a sense of uncertainty. He can’t help but feel fortunate because he knows he’s better off being stuck in his Davidson apartment than he would be in Syria. “I see Syrians living in tents,” Zaitoun said. “I see people living in places where you can’t self-isolate.”

Civil war was ramping up in Syria in the summer of 2015 when Zaitoun went off to a U.S. State Department education trip to the Midwest, according to Davidson College. When his flight went through Germany, he asked for asylum instead of catching his connecting flight.

With a student visa, Zaitoun transferred to Davidson. Days after Zaitoun was admitted, President Trump signed a travel ban against seven majority-Muslim countries, which included Syria.

The Davidson senior reflects on his past and what it took to get to where he is today. He said that thinking about the pandemic is “either going to depress you or make you feel completely unmotivated.” But Zaitoun says he tries to see the bright side of every situation.

Keeping positive

His brother had to cancel a trip back home to celebrate Ramadan. “It’s very hard for my mom,” Zaitoun said. “It’s always kind of sad for her. But she knows we’re safe.”

All of his brothers have fled the country, but his sister still lives in Syria with his mother. The men in the family left for safety and to elude military conscription. Although his six family members are geographically spread apart — across five countries and three continents — Zaitoun keeps in contact with them. He talks to his mom every day.

The coronavirus spread in Syria hasn’t been as grim as in the United States. Borders were already closed, air traffic was already limited and a curfew was already in place.

Although Zaitoun lives alone in isolation, he is not sad or scared. He said his experiences have taught him to be more resilient. “I lost my dad in 2013, lost my country in 2015 … Because you’ve seen worse, you know how to deal with what you have. Hope is the only thing that keeps you going.”

This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 10:53 AM.