I chose to be a researcher. This means that I have to develop, improve, understand what obstacles and problems the medical physicists face and try to improve things
Omar’s life is a complex stratification of political, cultural, social and identity-related layers as he was born in Syria, but he never had its nationality. The Syrian government has always recognized the children of Palestinian fathers or grandfathers to be Palestinian nationals, granting them travel documents rather than Syrian passports. For this reason Omar, his brother and his six sisters are Palestinian refugees in Syria, and they always had the right to live and work there. Omar lived all his life in Damascus accompanied by the love and memory for a homeland he has never been able to see and being only partially part of the society, even if he did not experience any other. He was a master student in physics, specifically in “Radiation Protection” at the University of Damascus when the Fridays’ protests against the government began and when in 2011 the war erupted. Initially, Damascus was spared from the direct conflict due to an agreement to keep the city relatively untouched, but it was always a conflict zone and not entirely safe.
“It was confusing to know who was fighting who and to think to be in a safe side. It was quite incredible. We had to be fine and nice to everyone or they would have make us feel bad”.
After a while also Damascus was involved. Omar and his family were among the many that left the city and it was very hard and expensive to find a place to live. In Jobar, at the outskirts of the city, they stayed in a two-room apartment in ten, covering all the floor with mattresses. In the absurdity of that moment, they had a nice family time, they were together and this was what mattered. During a short ceasefire, Omar and his family had the opportunity to see their house one last time and take all what they could, especially their documents, as when you leave your house because of the war “you barely go out dressed and run away because of the risks”. As they walked away, they began to hear the bombs exploding above their heads, incredibly close, and they never looked back. Prices became unaffordable and they then moved to Mazzeh, around ten kilometres from Damascus, where his family still lives. Omar, despite everything else, continued to believe in his passion for physics and looked for scholarships abroad. This is what made it possible for him to leave the country.
“I arrived in Italy in 2015, and the war started in 2011. I saw most of its aggressive parts. All that period was, let’s say, a black era. My success started from Italy”.
The University of Trieste, and in particular the Absus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), recognised his legal status, something he was not sure about considering all the Syrians blocked at the border with Europe at that time. As a refugee in Syria and stateless elsewhere, his ID is not recognized by many countries, and during that time governments doubted the authenticity of Syrian documents. Upon arriving in Italy, there was a crucial step he needed to take before focusing on studying. He sought asylum, and he is now a refugee in Italy.
At ICTP he started a master’s in “medical physics”. Trieste was the first city he lived in Europe and there he found a very international environment. There were students from Nicaragua, Mexico and Sudan among others and consequently he spent his time getting to know them and studying. While the first year was theoretical, the second was practical, and he decided to move to Torino and work at the “San Giovanni Antica Sede” hospital. Here he worked mainly with Italian colleagues, and this encouraged him to study the language and integrate in the society. All his supervisors were very gentle with him, and particularly one that would later become his mentor and point of reference in Italy. “He was so nice and welcoming, he helped me. He was my father in Italy, I called him like that”.
In Torino, he learnt how to use the treatment machines used in cancer care. As medical physicists, it was their responsibility to ensure that these worked perfectly through regular calibrations and quality controls of the machines through instruments they were trained to use. They also learnt how to develop treatment plans. Once finished his master he decided to apply for a PhD in Medical Physics during which he worked on the development, improvement and calibration of sensors that deliver better and more precise treatments in high energy physics and high energy particle physics. In Pavia at CNAO, the National Centre for Oncological Hydrotherapy, they tested their devices and sensors under the beam test to understand their efficiency and functionality. It was fascinating as they could know how many particles passed together with their energy, two aspects that are very important to assess the treatment of cancer patients.
“I chose to be a researcher. This means that I have to develop, improve, understand what obstacles and problems the medical physicists face and try to improve things”.
In those years, he was in contact with the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), the one that produced the sensors he worked on and for which he is now working. He moved to Trento where he still works as a testing engineer for the characterization of silicon censors and devices. Censors can be very small or huge depending on the final use and Omar’s team role is to check their functionality. These are used both for medical applications and high energy physics like space-related devices for NASA or for research facilities like CERN. He likes working with his colleagues, they have a lot of work to do but they do it in a relaxed way. According to the policy of the foundation, there is a maximum of 6 years’ contract for researchers and Omar is at his 5th. In some months he will know whether he will have to start a new adventure, “this time not alone but with my family”. Laughing said that he has lived in the 3Ts – Trieste, Torino and Trento – and looking at his future, he applied for Italian citizenship and there are many important reasons behind his choice. In addition to the fact that he is entitled to it, he could finally travel and apply for positions abroad and wish for a better income that would ease his situation as he supports his family both here and in Mazzeh. He could finally stop collecting all his documents to explain himself in universities and, thinking of the next generation, this would avoid them the same problems he faced. Even if, fortunately, his daughters already have Italian documents.
According to Omar in Syria, there are still too many resources spent in the military and fighting that could be invested in reconstruction or research, for example. “Instead of destroying the lives of many people, these could make life better for everyone” as war took the country decades back. Still today, things are very expensive as the black market prevails and the salaries are very low. His family has electricity for only two hours a day and they have to collect water for the entire week. Moreover, there are people that still have to wake up thinking about where to find their bread, milk, gas and electricity. “It’s ‘just to live and stay alive’. When it comes to Syria, there are some friends he misses a lot that disappeared from his life, and he knows nothing about. He misses the delicious food, the time spent at the university that he wishes to see again one day. He wishes to bring his parents here so that they can live in peace with him together with his sisters even if it would be more difficult. He wishes for peace for all the Middle Eastern countries and to go to Palestine one day. He wishes to become part of the world of international research as he thinks that it is the right of everyone to do what they want and to be recognized for who they are.
Omar is a Syrian, Palestinian, Lebanese and hopefully soon, Italian. A lifelong refugee who dreams for a better world and holds hope for the next generation to do things better and differently from us.