1) The author's four great-grandparents were exiled from Adygea Republic in Russia to a village in Syria called Breika after the Caucasus War, where only other Adygeans lived.
2) After the Six Day War destroyed Breika, the author's father and grandparents moved to Damascus, where he changed his name to integrate more.
3) The author's family history involves ancestors who moved between France, Germany, Italy and Syria over generations for jobs, marriage and education, culminating in the author's parents meeting while studying medicine.