MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
It's been a little more than a month since the Syrian regime fell to opposition fighters. Syrians were euphoric after suddenly being freed from decades of repression. NPR's Jane Arraf in Damascus takes a look at how things have changed since then.
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JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: One of the ways to gauge life in this new Syria is at this traffic island. It's midday and jam packed - new cars imported after the fall of the regime jockeying for space with vehicles that would normally be in a museum.
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ARRAF: In the midst of this, a man with a Boy Scout scarf and a whistle tries to bring order to the chaos.
AMJAD MUHADASSAD: My name is Amjad Muhadassad (ph). I am volunteering with the Boy Scout of Syria. We are trying to help as much as we can here in Syria.
ARRAF: Muhadassad has a shop nearby selling machine engines. Most police disappeared when the regime was toppled, so he volunteered to help.
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ARRAF: He waves through an emergency vehicle. The oncoming traffic actually stops for him.
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MUHADASSAD: As you can see, where we are standing now, it's a very difficult area. So it's getting better and better now.
ARRAF: Muhadassad, 43, says Syrians were trapped before, between regime repression and international sanctions that isolated Syria's people, as well as its leaders.
MUHADASSAD: I used to say to my friends, I don't belong to the Earth anymore. I feel like I'm an alien.
ARRAF: Now in these gritty streets, he says his depression has lifted. He feels like he's walking on air.
MALAI CHIMERI: How are you?
ARRAF: Good. Thank you.
Malai Chimeri (ph), who's 27, is delighted to meet a foreigner. He's from a region near the Iraqi border, and he's come to check out the capital. Under the old regime, it was dangerous to talk to strangers. You never knew who they were. Prisons were full of Syrians arrested off the street for no reason.
CHIMERI: Oh, good, good, good, good.
(Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "Before, if I talked to this person or that person, they'd say, we're terrorists. They wouldn't investigate. They would just arrest people and take them to prison."
He says Syrians want to build a new country, a new life. He says the biggest problem now is the high prices. There are no jobs and no aid organizations helping people. Government workers haven't been paid in two months, and agencies and other countries promise to help. But they're trying to rewind a decade of trade sanctions imposed on the Assad regime. Syria is rich in resources, its people industrious. Across the street, painters on scaffolding work on a new luxury hotel. Upscale restaurants are full to those who can afford it. But more than a decade of war and sanctions have left so many Syrians destitute. On the outskirts of Damascus, the Hirista neighborhood is mostly damaged buildings and collapsed homes from fighting during Syria's civil war. But on the corner where we're standing, a tiny shop has become a busy neighborhood hub.
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ARRAF: There are new kinds of imported candy behind a glass shelf and boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables.
ABU AL-ASSADA: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Abu al-Assada (ph), a shop worker says before, no one could afford to buy fruit here because the regime controlled imports and prices.
AL-ASSADA: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "An apple would not enter our homes," he says. "We didn't know the taste of bananas."
Prices have dropped dramatically now, but people here are still desperately poor.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: A little girl holds up a small yellow apple and asks the price. Assada weighs it on his digital scale.
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AL-ASSADA: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "Two thousand pounds," he tells her - about 20 cents. She puts it back. She doesn't have the money.
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ARRAF: Back in central Damascus, there's still daily celebrations. People worry about the economy, but also about what happens after dark when there's a shortage of police and militia fighters roam the streets.
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ARRAF: Freedom, though, that they still have in abundance, and they are still reveling in it. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Damascus. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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