The Alberto Hurtado House was founded three years ago in the Jaramana neighbourhood on the outskirts of Damascus. Beit Alberto(Alberto's house in Arabic), as the people call it, is a cultural and educational centre. Until a few years ago, Jaramana was a suburb of some 800,000 people, mainly of Druze religion, living alongside other religious minorities such as Christians and Alawites. With the war, Jaramana became a refuge for displaced people from different parts of the country. More than 3 million people from different religions, social classes, and educational levels live here today. Old buildings, new buildings with 6 or 7 floors and houses with cardboard roofs are part of the urban landscape, along with wide avenues and unpaved streets.

Living in Jaramana is not easy; its population growth means that most people cannot access essential services such as water and electricity (only two hours of electricity a day). People also suffer from a lack of public transport and street cleaning services, which leads to filth and bad smells that affect the health of the inhabitants. Beit Albert is the response of the Society of Jesus to go to the border areas; it is present not only in Syria but also in one of the places with the greatest need.

There are four of us Jesuits living and working in Beit Albert. We work mainly with young people of different religious denominations—university students who spend a large part of the day at the centre to prepare for their courses or to participate in one of our educational or cultural activities. We aim to accompany young people in their student and professional lives to help them acquire the necessary tools to face reality and build their future. To accompany them in their search for meaning in life, mainly living in Syria. To achieve this goal, we organise various activities such as personal development courses, communication, sculpture, dance, music, singing, theatre, drawing and graphic design workshops, film screenings, concerts, exhibitions, chess and table tennis tournaments, etc. Retreats and spiritual weekends for Christians are also proposed. We want Beit Albert to be a real home for young people and for them to feel at home.

Because of the war, young Syrians face significant challenges: destruction of infrastructure and social relations, economic crisis, shortage of services and products, unemployment, military service for boys, etc. Syrian youth are among the poorest, not only poor in the economic and social sense of the term but poor in terms of hope and future. Many young people feel suffocated in this context; they need fresh air—a change of environment to open their horizons. Today, many men want to extend their studies as long as possible to avoid military service. Most young people (men and women) try to earn a university degree before leaving the country, regardless of the destination.

This reality takes a lot of energy from each of us. Much of our time is spent addressing problems that do not exist in other parts of the world, for example, securing electricity, water, heating oil in the centre during the winter (temperatures can drop to minus 7 degrees), gas for cooking, and so on. We could think about and do more important things, such as pedagogy and accompaniment. However, our present challenges are real: how can we help young people rebuild confidence in themselves, society, and their country, and how can we help build hope amid this 13-year conflict?

Nevertheless, we find much consolation in our life in Syria and our apostolic work with young people. Despite everything against them, they have a great desire to live and move forward. They never stop fighting. We have seen the light breaking through the darkness in these years of accompanying young people. We have witnessed joy and life in the context of war and death. We have witnessed the resurrection, of young men and women renewed. The young people help us move forward and live with hope in this country.