São Paulo – São Paulo’s Syrian Sports Club launched this Sunday (6) a landmark to celebrate its 100th anniversary: an 8.4-ton rock (pictured) from Palmira, Syria, where the Club’s founders came from. The Club was established in 1917 by young immigrants for socialization, leisure, sports, and to keep alive their Arab cultural roots.
A gift from the Syrian government, the rock was taken from the same site as the ones that were used in building the historical city of Palmira. At the Club, it was set in a tree-lined outdoor area that clubgoers pass through. The launch event was attended by clubgoers and leaders from the Club and other organizations.
The Club’s Centennial Committee chairman Roberto Cabariti told the story of the landmark. According to him, it all began nearly two years ago, when the idea came up to find an original item from Syria to symbolize the centennial. In 2016, during a solidarity mission of the Federation of American-Arab Organizations (Federação de Entidades Americano-Árabes – Fearab) to Syria, the Club’s members Fuad Achcar Jr. and Rezkalla Tuma (since deceased), who were part of the mission, made the request to the Syrian government, and it was promptly met.
The Syrian Sports Club relied on support from the General Consulate of Syria in São Paulo to bring in the rock. It got shipped from Syrian in September 2017, arrived in Santos in October, and made it to its destination in November. The Club’s centennial year was 2017. “It’s here within the reach of our hands, with its symbolic strength,” Cabariti said regarding the rock.
Syria’s consul general to São Paulo, Sami Salameh, attended the rock’s launch and said it signifies the “good-heartedness” of the third and fourth generations of Syrians in Brazil towards their ancestors. “It’s a piece of a country that belongs to us all,” he said.
Syrian Sports Club president Fabio Kadi told those in attendance that the rock’s arrival is reminiscent of the arrival of the immigrants who established the place in 1917. “I am sure they knew we would be here today, celebrating their dream,” he stated.
Kadi said the Club, as well as Damascus, had its moments of grief and glory. “May this rock, this monolith, lead us to reflect through times of trouble, through times of joy, so we may keep radiating what represents our people, which is perseverance, a heart full of love, and the will to live,” he said.
President Kadi also mentioned the work of Syrian Sports Club Centennial Commission adviser and the event’s coordinator, Arpad Molnar. Board chairman Marcelo Audi Cateb also addressed the audience and stressed the work of current and past leaders and of several organizations associated with the Arab community that are partners with the Club.
The rock, which was covered with a red cloth, was revealed by Syrian Sports Club leaders, to the audience’s applause. The celebration began with a performance by the Band of the 4th Light Infantry Battalion, which played the Brazilian and Syrian National Anthems and the Club’s Anthem. The ceremony was followed by a cocktail reception.
Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce C-level executives were at the Club for the ceremony, including International Relations vice president Osmar Chohfi, representing the president; cultural director Sílvia Antibas; treasurer Nahid Chicani; Foreign Trade vice president Ruy Carlos Cury; former president Salim Schahin; and board member Mário Rizkallah, who’s a former Syrian Sports Club president.
“To us Arab Chamber board members who were in attendance, the event had a very special meaning, because the Chamber is part of this group of organizations that attest to the successful efforts we Syrian-descendant Brazilians undertake to mark our presence in Brazil,” Chohfi told ANBA after the ceremony.
According to Chohfi, the rock from Syiran has a very special meaning. “Not just for the Syrian Sports Club to demonstrate the persistence, through time, of the pioneering efforts of the first immigrants to Brazil, but also to the entire community of Syrian descent in Brazil. This is a piece of the home country of our parents and grandparents, and now we can contemplate it in this beautiful place, this garden within the Syrian Sports Club,” Chohfi said.
Watch footage of the Syrian Sports Club president’s address:
Watch the band playing Syria’s National Anthem:
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
