- Hey, my name is Aya, and this is my story,
how I survived both Syrian and ISIS war.
(soft guitar music)
- You may have noticed in my last five videos from Iraq
that very few women are seen publicly on the streets,
and that's because, sadly,
Middle Eastern societies are dominated by men.
I've been wanting to shine the spotlight on an Iraqi woman,
and it just so happens that I got introduced to Aya
at a coworking space in Baghdad.
While her story is tragic,
I feel like it's important for her voice to be heard
so we can all realize how good we have it.
Aya is as inspiring as they come.
So I'm here in Baghdad
and I'm looking to make a people story,
and I just happened to meet Aya, who is super awesome.
We met in the coworking space.
I'm telling her story today,
and I can't wait for you guys to hear all about it.
- I'm Aya. I'm from Baghdad, Iraq.
I am Iraqi and my mother is Iraqi,
and my father is Palestinian, but he was born in Iraq.
- [Drew] So you're Iraqi-Palestinian?
- Yeah.
- [Drew] But you have an Iraqi passport?
- Yeah, and I have Iraqi heart. (laughs)
- [Drew] And you were born and raised here in Baghdad?
- Yeah.
- [Drew] How old are you?
- I'm 21.
- [Drew] You're 21? You're so young.
- Yeah.
- [Drew] How did you learn English so well?
- Well, my story is like...
I dropped the school because of war a long time ago.
Then I actually had depression.
My age is 16.
So I decided to take out this depression
by learning English alone at home.
- [Drew] Really? - Yeah.
I started on YouTube with English channel actually,
even not Arabic teacher, from zero.
So I decided to keep learning, and I improved myself.
- [Drew] When did you start? What year?
- In 2016.
- [Drew] Four years ago? - Yeah.
- [Drew] Wow! It's so fluent.
- Thank you.
- [Drew] So tell me more about your life story.
So you were born in Baghdad.
- So when I was a kid, and to some history in Baghdad,
I still remember some scenes
when the Americans were in Iraq.
Well, one night they came to our house and break in.
- In your house?
- Yeah. And with dogs.
They just want to check
if we have guns or something.
And I was terrified, and I was very afraid.
And in the same time,
I met a lot of, I remember, American solders.
I remember one who gave me a chocolate
and another girl who was American soldier
who danced with me.
I still remember that scene.
- When you were three years old?
- No, this is after I was four or something like that.
When I was three years old,
I remember the shooting and the stuff.
This was a horrible memory.
And then in 2009, we moved to Syria.
We lived there, and then the war came.
We wanted to settle down in Syria or maybe travel Europe,
and then the war came in Syria.
- [Drew] You went to Syria at a bad time.
Right before the war started, you went there.
- [Aya] Yeah. Not that much lucky!
- And so, were you in Damascus?
- Yeah.
- In Syria, Damascus was usually safe
compared to like Homs and Aleppo and other places.
But you stayed in Damascus. You didn't travel around?
- No, no, just in Damascus. It was a great city.
I loved it. My heart stayed there as a kid.
- The food is so good in Syria.
- Yeah, very good. (laughs)
- And then I came back to Baghdad.
After we sold our house and everything,
we didn't have anything.
And then we moved to Mosul,
because it's cheaper than Baghdad.
And then ISIS came, and another war.
I also dropped the school because of ISIS,
and I also had depression,
because I couldn't go out of the home.
For six months when the ISIS came I didn't leave the house,
because I have this idea like they will take the girls,
and they rape them and do horrible things with them.
So I just had this very, very painful picture in my head
and I just couldn't face it.
- [Drew] So you went to Syria one year before the war
and then you went to Mosul.
- I told you, I'm not that much lucky!
- [Drew] Oh my God, that's terrible.
What was it like to be in Mosul when ISIS took over?
- I don't know how to tell, but it was very hard.
I told you, I had never left the house for six months,
and I was just dying to go back to Baghdad.
Finally, we made it back to Baghdad. We escaped actually.
And my father had to stay in Mosul, because he's not Iraqi.
He's Palestinian.
The way back to Baghdad is full of militia.
If they catch him...
And his ID, his Palestinian ID, was expired.
So he had to stay in Mosul until it was free from ISIS.
So we didn't see our father for three years,
and we lived alone.
- [Drew] Did you hear gunshots at night?
I'm trying to imagine what it's like
to be stuck inside for six months.
Did you hear bombings?
- Yeah, of course. Actually, I saw the...
You know the mosque of Nabi Yunus in Mosul?
The big mosque? The famous one?
I was on the rooftop,
and the whole city saw this, the big explosion,
and I heard shot guns here.
Even in Syria, I saw injured people with blood.
I saw things as a kid
I shouldn't have seen.
Like, a sniper tried to shoot us in Syria, and-
- [Drew] You?!
- Yeah. And very horrible things.
- Through all of the wars
and all of the problems that you've seen,
you never got hurt physically?
- No. I'm lucky on that side. I didn't get kidnapped.
No, I didn't get actually hurt physically,
but actually I had- - [Drew] Mentally.
Mentally, yeah, and as a kid also I had sexual harassment.
Yeah. And that's all.
- How long were you depressed for?
- Actually, almost for one year and a half.
I didn't go out of the house.
I even didn't talk a lot that much to my family.
Maybe like five words a day only. And I just stayed alone.
- What did you do to spend time? Watch movies?
Nothing. Just being alone.
- Like, drawing pictures? - No.
- What did you do? - Nothing.
- Sometimes I just stayed by myself,
because my little brother goes to school.
I was just like 15 years old,
and I'm just alone at home doing nothing.
But then I decided to make advantage of this
and learn English.
- [Drew] Wow.
- I didn't actually have a phone.
I was taking my mother phone to go to YouTube at night
and take things and learn them.
But after several months,
I decided, no, I need the phone at home.
So I had earrings, gold earrings.
So I decided to sold it,
and then I buy a phone with the money.
So I bought a phone,
and then I started to learn English with my phone at home,
and taking pictures.
- I love how you were so determined
and so motivated to learn English by yourself.
That's amazing.
- [Aya] Yeah!
- [Drew] So you've finally escaped Mosul safely,
and you've come back home to Baghdad.
- [Aya] Yeah.
- [Drew] And has it been safe here since you arrived?
- Yeah. It's safe, but it's hard, you know?
That's the thing in Baghdad about education and so on.
It's not that much good.
When I tried to go back to school, they didn't let me in.
I tried hard.
- [Drew] Why?
- You know, system things and paper things,
because I haven't the paper from Syria, and so on.
And then I dropped also school
because I had to take care of my little brothers.
At age of 18, I decided to work.
- [Drew] What do you do for work?
- My first job was as a seller at a mall. So I saved money.
I bought an iPhone, it's still the same one,
because I have a hobby to mobile photography.
And I saved also money to join an institute,
which is to improve my English.
And I finished it.
And again, I am working. I start working.
It's also to be independent.
- Super cool.
Her office is in this amazing coworking space in Baghdad.
- So from this place, we're showing people
that our country is beautiful.
- [Drew] Where do you want to be in five years from now?
Where do you see yourself?
- I always wanted to move abroad, actually.
It's my dream to go to the UK and live in London.
But now I think this thing is changing,
because maybe I want to change something in here.
After all, I belong to Baghdad.
- [Drew] Aya is one of the strongest, sweetest,
and most resilient people I've ever met.
I really admire her courage to open up to the camera
about her terrible experiences living through the ISIS wars.
After we chatted for about an hour,
Aya invited me to try some street food in the neighborhood,
because in case you haven't noticed
in my Iraqi videos so far,
people here love to eat,
and they love even more talking about it.
- So I wanted to ask you, how did you find the Iraqi food?
- Oh my God. The food is so good all over Iraq.
Actually, all over the Middle East.
I love it, I love it.
- So what is your favorite dish, Iraqi dish?
- I like falafel, of course. I don't know if that's Iraqi.
- Have you tried dolma?
- Yes. Dolma, I tried dolma.
- [Aya] It should be one your favorite.
- It's one of my favorites, absolutely.
Yesterday we had this...
I think it was sheep with rice, and there was bread.
It was all mixed in one bowl.
- [Aya] Maqluba?
- [Drew] Maqluba, that's it, maqluba. That was good.
- It's also very famous. - Very famous.
- It's also one of my favorites.
Very good. - Very good.
- How did you find it?
- I love it so much.
- So this is like street sweets.
- [Drew] Street sweets? - [Aya] Yeah.
- [Drew] We should definitely try something.
- Which one you want to try?
- [Drew] You tell me what's the best one.
- Take this one.
- [Drew] Yeah. You take one too.
What is it?
- It's (indistinct). It's called (indistinct).
- [Drew] What's inside?
- [Aya] Just like donut.
- Cheers! - Cheers!
- Mm!
They're so sugary. It's super sweet, but it's delicious.
- If you are on a diet, don't try this! (laughs)
- If you could say one message to everybody in the world,
what would you say to them?
- Stop being judgmental.
And be kind to each other.
- That's perfect. Thank you so much, that was wonderful.
- You're welcome.
- What an amazing story, meeting Aya.
And I was very spontaneous.
I just showed up at this coworking space
looking to find an inspiring person to tell,
and she fit that role.
She just kind of came up to me and we started talking.
Originally, it was off camera, and then I was like,
"Listen, if you don't mind sharing your story,
please, do you mind if I record it?"
And obviously, she didn't mind at all. Very friendly.
It's so inspiring to see how she went
from literally escaping and being in the middle
of two of the worst wars in our lifetime,
and now she came out on top and she's doing amazing things,
and she's paving the way
for the future of this generation in Iraq.
And I hope you guys could connect with her. I certainly did.
I want to thank Aya.
Thank you for all of your time
and being so bold to share your story.
I promise you guys,
there will be more positive stories coming all around Iraq
as I travel this beautiful nation.
Stay tuned.
Hit me up on Instagram @DrewBinsky to follow my trip live,
and I'll catch you guys later.
Peace.
- [Fan] How long a fan of you? Like, since two years ago.
- [Drew] Thank you, bro. Where are you from?
- Iraqi.
- [Drew] You're from Baghdad? - Baghdad, yes.
Thank you! - Yeah, man. Nice to meet you.
- You too! - Take it easy, bro!
- [Man] He's been following you for two years.
- I never expected you to to come to Baghdad!
I thought you were just going to end in Kurdistan! (laughs)
- [Drew] I'm here, man. Are you from Baghdad?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Drew] You have a British accent.
- I do a bit. It just comes from the internet and stuff.
- From the internet? You never lived in the UK?
- No. - [Drew] Really?
- No, never.
- So you consumed, like, British media instead of American?
You didn't watch Hollywood films?
- Kind of. You know KSI?
- [Drew] Huh? - You know KSI?
- [Drew] KSI, yeah, yeah.
- That's what I'm watching.
- [Drew] Ah, that's how you got it.
Nice to meet you, man Thanks for saying hi.
Can I elbow you at least?
- Sure, man. - [Drew] Cool, bro.
- No worries, man.
If you need anything around here, just let me know.
I'll be hanging around here.
- [Drew] Thank you so much, dude. Take it easy.
- Many people in the world, especially Americans,
think that Baghdad is the most dangerous place,
and they're very scared when they hear about Baghdad.
What do you want to say to those people?
- Don't judge on a book by its cover.
Go deep. Like, meet people from Baghdad.
Don't listen to the social media alone,
because they just show what they want.
Right, there is wars, there is bad things happening,
but also there is people with a dream,
there is young people,
there is
beautiful girls like me (laughs),
who has dreams and working on them.
There is a good environment.
So in the whole world,
no matter if it's in the Middle East or outside,
there is good and bad sides.
So not focused only on the bad side.
- I'm Drew Binsky, and if you like my travel videos,
please click "subscribe" and ring that little bell
so you can get notified on all my upcoming videos
as I take you to every single country in the world.