The Grapes of My Country: Syrian Journalism Baptized in Blood"Between August 20-25, hundreds of Darayya residents were shot in cold blood after the regime stormed the city, shelling it and carrying house-to-house raids. It was the most dramatic moment in the city´s recent history, and it deeply affected the Grapes of My Country team. The trauma caused by the loss of friends and relatives and the death of one of the project’s co-founders, Mohammad Quraitem, soon after, led to the subsequent decentralization of the project, which spread to other cities. They started publishing in the northern areas free of regime control, such as Raqqa, Aleppo and Idlib, where there was more room for work.
“The project was about to end around that period, but we managed to continue,” one of the team members explained. “Our journalistic experience and commitment to tell the truth were now baptized in blood.”
Ten months after leaving Darayya, the team is now preparing its re-launch there, following petitions from residents. The fact that the city has no electricity and is subjected to an almost total isolation, makes Grapes of My Country more necessary than ever."