(Duma, Rif Dimashq) At the age of ten, Abu Zuhair learned how to fix and make baburs, small kerosene stoves, from his father. In Duma, baburs are used for cooking and to heat water. Now, at the age of 35 and the father of 6 children, Abu Zuhair understands that his profession is extremely important.

He has spent 25 years maintaining and making baburs. Before the siege on Duma began, the baburs were relegated to the dusty corners of houses, unused, passed along as part of Syrian heritage. However, the war and siege made them a necessity again.

Duma has been besieged since October 2013. Approximately 200,000 people are thought to live there. Frequent shelling and airstrikes target the town, which is also subject to electricity cuts and suffers from a severe gas shortage. People are therefore no longer able to use their gas or electric stoves to prepare meals.

The baburs need kerosene to work, which is relatively cheap and obtained via smuggling, informal deals made between the opposition and the regime, as well as through local production.

Abu Zuhair’s father was a pioneer; he spent 40 years reworking baburs. Even after he passed away, Abu Zuhair remained loved by the people of Duma, and known by everyone. He doesn’t know whether it is because of his father or his own personality.

Everything in Abu Zuhair’s shop reminds him of his childhood, of the time he would spend there with his four brothers. Being the eldest, the babur manufacturer has always felt a responsibility towards this business, inherited from his father.

On February 15, 2016, Abu Zuhair asked his 60-year-old father, as they were fixing a broken babur: “Why haven’t we tried to innovate? You’ve been working here for 40 years, and nothing in our work has changed; it’s been the same.” This was a question that the babur manufacturer would repeatedly ask his father. Abu Zuhair’s father took a few minutes, and responded saying, “Many things have changed. We’ve succeeded, people know, love, and trust us. Being humble is better than being rich.”

MInutes after this proclamation, daily airstrikes began on Duma, killing 18 civilians. With the sounds of the rockets overhead, Abu Zuhair threw himself on the ground and yelled for his father to do the same. Sadly, cluster rockets traveled faster than the sound of his voice and one of them hurled the shop owner to the ground. Abu Zuhair tried to wake him, but unfortunately he was dead.

Months later, as Abu Zuhair sits working in the evening, he imagines his father with him. He is unable to do anything except continue working in the same place where his father had passed away. It is the babur manufacturer’s own way to follow his master’s last advice.

This article is a collaboration between SyriaUntold, Humans of Syria, and Radio SouriaLi.

[Photo: Abu Zuhair, the babur manufacturer - Duma - Rif Dimashq - 15-3-2016 (Humans of Syria)].