Sama Wareh

A few nights ago I had the amazing opportunity to meet Sama Wareh at a GIP event hosted in the Upper School Library. At the event, Ms. Wareh captivated myself as well as the other audience members with riveting, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting stories ranging from her early childhood experiences with her identity as a Syrian-American woman to her extensive work with art therapy throughout her adulthood that has brought her to where she is today.

Ms. Wareh told us about her first ever visit to Syria, and specifically her experiences with her uncle, a traditional holistic medicine man, and how he cured an eye issue she was having with a steeped white sage treatment. In doing so, she told us another story about her disillusionment and discovery as she grew closer to her Syrian identity and family. In doing so she also taught us an important lesson about instinct and gut feeling, how to listen to them and how to use that to help others. 

As the night and event went on and her stories took us back in her home base of Orange County, she mentioned a garden project she was working on and how yet another run-in with white sage sent her back to her memories of the Middle East and eventually, literally back there. By now the area had changed drastically in conflict over the years, and Ms. Wareh was no longer there for a visit. She was there to aid those in need. 

She then spoke about a series of one-on-one encounters she'd had with those in need in Turkey and Syria. She spoke about the work she'd done fundraising and distributing and how she eventually found her calling of art therapy and its long lasting effects. She finally left us with the idea that while art therapy may not save lives, it does save spirits. And thus ended a beautiful event of her candid storytelling and sharing her passions and work.