Guest Post: The Village of Bakh'a
Article in Western Neo-Aramaic
Bakh‘a (al-Sarkha) is one the three villages in the Qalamun region of Damascus countryside where the original inhabitants speak Western Neo-Aramaic. During the war in Syria between the Assad regime and the insurgency, Bakh‘a by far suffered the most damage among the three villages. According to Muhammad Fuddah (محمد فضة), the author of the guest post below on the village of Bakh ‘a, around 80% of the houses in the village are destroyed and uninhabitable. Not surprisingly, much of the original population has yet to return, and exile aggravates the endangered status of the Bakh‘a dialect of Western Neo-Aramaic.
While regime supporters and sympathisers have repeatedly talked about the status of minorities in Syria, their concern seems notably absent when it comes to the village of Bakh‘a, whose original inhabitants are from the country’s religious majority (Sunni Muslims) but are still a minority in terms of their native language.
The post below by Fuddah is written in Western Neo-Aramaic and I provide an English translation.
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Inside the renovated mosque in Bakh‘a
كريثا اشما بخعة بمنطقثل القلمونا تيذو محكين سريني او ارومية وتيذو خلون مسلموين ولوكا انتلعث ثورة ضدتل نظوما مجرمو انفك خل تذوي الكريثة ضدتي نظوما وحزب لالو قصفل الكريثا وشكلونا بعوم 2014 وثكنث كريثا منتقثا عسكروي ولفش اسمح لتذو انو يعبرن إعلا لكذا إشنا. لوكا إسقط نظوما ثكننح نحومين تمورا ربا بكريثا وبيثو لفش منسكنن حتى جيمعا تمروني وبفضلي التبروعو المروي الكريثا عويت وعمرو الجيمعا .
لوكا انتصرث ثورتا سوروي انح مروي الكريثا منتمنين انو كريثا تثكن بعصرا حت من حوريثا وكرومثا وإزدهورا كريثا عم وجوها تحديوثا ربا مننا تمورا. نظوما مجرمو ووب محك انو عم حميل الاقليوثا الدينوي ولوغاوي بس كريثا اثبتث ذكول نظوما بهجور التيذو وتمور الكريثا.
The village called Bakh ‘a is in the Qalamoun region and its inhabitants speak Syriac or Aramaic and they are all Muslims. When the revolution broke out against the criminal regime, all the people of the village rose up against it. The regime and Hezbollah bombed the village and seized the village in 2014. The village then became a military zone and its people were not allowed to return to it over the years. Following the fall of the regime, we can see that there is much destruction in the village and many of the homes are uninhabitable. Even the mosque was damaged, but thanks to donations by the people of the village, the mosque has been renovated.
Following the victory of the Syrian revolution, we hope the village can enjoy a new area of freedom, dignity and prosperity though we cannot deny the village faces great challenges because of the destruction. The criminal regime would claim that it protected religious and linguistic minorities, but the village has shown the regime’s lie as it displaced the people of the village and destroyed it.