September 30, 2020

“My grandfather was the first person to work as an Al-Sous (someone who sells juice on the move) eighty-five years ago in the streets of Qamishli. He had been doing this job for thirty years, then my father started doing it for forty years; many people recognized him as Abu Abdo Al-Sawas. Then, my father was getting older and I started doing the same job in 2010. My father taught me everything I know about the job, and what separates me from the other sellers is that I dress cultural clothes every day. We have been settled in Qamishli for about eighty-five years now, but I always say I’m from Aleppo because if you forget where you have come from, then you don’t have an origin at all.”

“Drinking Sous (juice) has many health benefits, and one of the most important benefits is that it speeds up digestion. Sous is a type of herb that is harvested on the shores of Euphrates. The Sous that come from Euphrates is very famous, and is usually sold in Summer. In Qamishli we start selling Sous once temperature rises, but in Damascus and Aleppo it is sold all round year. This is why I have to have another job during winter. Sous, or Binebelek (in Kurdish) and Liquorice (in English) is a cultural drink specific to Syria and the Kurdish regions of Eastern Kurdistan, and the person who sells it is called Al-Sawas..”