ABSTRACT
A distant relative of Hajj Khalaf, Omar grew up in relative poverty in Hawi al-Hawa. The family owned poor rain-fed land located far away from the village. This was rented it out to agricultural entrepreneurs, and the family income fluctuated dramatically with the successes and failures of harvests. After his father’s early death in 1959, Omar struggled with family responsibilities. After graduating from secondary school, he joined the Teachers’ College in Homs. Omar was one of the first teachers in the village primary school, and the main force behind enlarging the school to include preparatory classes. His account also documents the changing attitudes towards women’s education. He married his cousin, Adlah, in 1973, and is the father of four children. Omar has now become the religious sheikh of the village, the imam of its mosque, and the khatib (sermon giver) of Friday prayer. He is a member of the Ba’th Party and the school director. Omar has multiple ideological strands and orientations. At the centre of village life, Omar’s combination of Islam with socialism, and tribalism with nationalism is complex and, perhaps, exemplary of his generation’s aspirations and ideas of progress.
