Feras Al-Mobayed is a Syrian fashion designer who lives in the UK. He lost his hearing when he was just one, but his family, then living in Kuwait, did not give in to the physical handicap and decided to send him and his brother Wael, who is also deaf, to a boarding school in England where they could receive better care and education.
Feras and Wael have succeeded in overcoming many challenges and are now fully functional members of society. Today, they help other deaf people, mainly in Syria, move forward and fulfil their dreams.
Feras has been visiting Syria continuously since he was 14, and closely follows the poor care available to the country’s handicapped, in particular the hearing-impaired, after the outbreak of war.
Due to the war, Damascus’s Deaf Care Society, which was established in Damascus in 1960, has faced many challenges and its members have been largely deprived of activities and assistance.
Feras noted on his recent visit to Damascus that this association needs workshops and events to help enrich the skills and knowledge of the deaf, as well as translators and those who know sign language.
Feras started by filming the association’s activities and conducting interviews with deaf children and their families, but felt that was not enough. “I am talking about the reality of deaf people in Syria, but I am sure that the issue may be the same in other Arab countries,” Feras said.
He has since searched for more ways to support those in Syria who are deaf or hearing-impaired, who number more than 7,500 in Damascus alone. He strives to be the voice of this group and promote their cause to the world.
The idea began when Feras visited Damascus in 2019 and met Jaafar Al Marii, who worked in film advertisement and had worked on documentaries with international organisations in Syria.
Marii suggested that Feras make use of his photos and videos to produce a short documentary, titled “The Silent Side.”
“I worked in this movie for free, with no advance planning, my only motivation was love,” Marii said, adding that “at the beginning, I relied on filming Feras and his family in Damascus, and videos Feras and his brother Wael filmed with members of the World Federation of the Deaf, in which they said that the Federation had a strong relation with Syria before the war, but the country withdrew from it now.”
The 18-minute-documentary focuses on Syria’s deaf community and was broadcast on various platforms. At the beginning, the documentary shines a light on Feras’s life, showing that he has integrated with society so well that one might not even notice he is deaf.
A large part of the film focuses on a Syrian association dedicated to the deaf and hard of hearing. It shows its poor conditions and how it lacks activities and workshops.
The film also displays pictures of members who have received special awards in sports or participated in artistic workshops such as screenwriting. It also shows pictures of prominent Syrians who are deaf or hearing-impaired, such as fashion designer Hassan Khazem, chef Aman al-Ashi, who has a popular cooking channel on Youtube, Hoda Muhammad, the first deaf Syrian to get a master’s degree in sociology and photographer Ahmed Moussa, who collaborated on the film.
By the end, Feras succeeds in shedding light on the association, and as a result of the efforts, it has seen dramatic improvements. There are now some 120 Syrian youth volunteering at the association, a number of whom have been trained in sign language and help organise activities and integrate members into society.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
