On a recent trip from Germany, where he lives, to his hometown of Aleppo, Alhakam Shaar made a decision. He would not stay at a hotel or with friends. Instead, he would stay at what used to be his father’s office in Aleppo’s Old City.There was only one problem.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“Not a single room had a closable window or door,” Shaar, who had been away from the city for a decade, told Al Jazeera. Aleppo’s winters are brutally cold, with temperatures reaching well below zero degrees Celsius.Still, he bought a sleeping bag that had been advertised as capable of withstanding extreme weather.“That didn’t turn out to be true, and I still woke up with cold toes many nights,” he said. But despite the cold, he did not regret the decision.Although his trip to Syria was short – about two weeks, in part due to flight cancellations after armed clashes in Aleppo – Shaar started renovating his old family home, also in the Old City, that had been looted and damaged during the war.The roof was collapsing, and the door to the street had been removed. Two weeks did not seem to be enough time to make a dent in the extensive renovation work required.But he got the job done, and placed a metal door on the house to signal that it was no longer an abandoned property.“I was happy. I was truly, truly happy to be in Aleppo, not as …
