Photo: Wisdom Seller
While sweltering summer temperatures keep most people off the streets in the Syrian coastal city of Tartus, Mohamed Zaher stands in his book-lined kiosk, the Wisdom Seller, offering a seat and a free journey through a book to those who venture outside. For Zaher, books provided an escape during the seven years on the battlefields that claimed thousands of lives and devastated his country. “Flipping the pages of a book helped me get by each day, and step away from the horrors of war. Syrians need this – to erase the images the war encrypted in their minds,” he says. But books have become unaffordable for most Syrians: 90% now live below the poverty line, while more than 80% are food insecure. At his kiosk, passersby who read 15 or more pages from more than one of his 2,000 books gets a free cup of coffee. Around 20,000 readers have stopped at his kiosk, which is largely supported by donations from well-off residents.
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