Syria’s Secret Library
The story of the library in a besieged Syrian town which is providing a lifeline to a community shattered by war.
Away from the sound of bombs and bullets, in the basement of a crumbling house in the besieged Syrian town of Darayya, is a secret library. It is home to thousands of books rescued from bombed-out buildings by local volunteers, who daily brave snipers and shells to fill its shelves. In a town gripped by hunger and death after three years without food aid, Mike Thomson reveals how this literary sanctuary is proving a lifeline to a community shattered by war.
*Omar, the FSA soldier pictured above who was the last voice heard in this programme has been killed in fighting.*
(Photo: Omar Abu Anas, a Free Syrian Army soldier reads on the front line)
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A Diary of Despair
Duration: 01:20
Broadcasts
- Thu 28 Jul 201602:32GMTBBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Thu 28 Jul 201604:32GMTBBC World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, South Asia & Europe and the Middle East only
- Thu 28 Jul 201605:32GMTBBC World Service East Asia
- Thu 28 Jul 201606:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Thu 28 Jul 201612:32GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- Thu 28 Jul 201618:32GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
- Thu 28 Jul 201619:32GMTBBC World Service West and Central Africa & East and Southern Africa only
- Mon 1 Aug 201601:06GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Mon 1 Aug 201606:06GMTBBC World Service East Asia
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