In 2011, a Syrian woman with hazel eyes framed by her hijab left the primary-school classroom where she taught, took out a notebook and pen and decided to tell the truth about the Syrian revolution. Months later, she founded a weekly independent newspaper to report on the crimes committed by President Bashar al-Assad. Wanted by the regime, she fled the country and changed her name. Everybody now calls her Kholoud Waleed.
‘My life changed completely,’ she explains. ‘When the revolution started, I quit my job and participated in peaceful demonstrations against the regime. My life changed because I wanted to change my country.’
