Basma Jandali spent days consumed with fear . Her brother was stranded in the Syrian city of Homs , where government forces have killed hundreds of people this week . She did n't know he was alive until they spoke Friday . `` I feel relieved now , '' she said . Her brother is one of the lucky ones . Several hundred thousand people remain in Homs , a city suddenly peppered with snipers and surrounded by soldiers . Syrian forces unleashed an assault this week that has destroyed clinics and homes . It has dramatically altered the rhythm of everyday life . Parents keep their kids at home , afraid to send them to school . They get food from activists delivering flour and sugar at night . Those who do venture out use street smarts -- doctors make rounds at night , for example , jumping walls to avoid checkpoints . People have a tough time getting soap , toothbrushes , shampoo , and medications . `` The simple act of opening your door could be the last thing you do in your life , '' said Dima Moussa , an attorney in Chicago and Syrian activist who opposes the regime of President Bashar al-Assad . The Syrian government blames the 11-month-old nationwide uprising on terrorist groups . Video images from citizen journalists and accounts relayed to the outside world by phone suggest otherwise . Mohamad al Homsy , an activist from Homs who fled to Turkey before coming to the United States , said he gets a sense of the danger and desperation in Homs in phone calls home . His wife told him that their 6-year-old daughter in Homs has nightmares from the sounds of bombing . She told him the girl drew a picture with crayons of the family , a tank , and a fire . `` Can you imagine kids drawing this instead of the tree ? '' al Homsy said . `` That made me so angry . '' Malaz Alatassi , a doctor who lived in Homs before moving to Detroit , said friends and family tell him it 's hard to go out and buy or find supplies , like bread or heating oil . `` If you look out the window , you risk being shot , '' he said . Smugglers and activists wait until night to deliver flour , sugar and medicine to people huddled in fear at home , he and al Homsy said . `` That 's risky , '' Alatassi said . `` There are reports that many of those people are killed . '' Businesses have closed . Government employees work on and off . Along with a breakdown of medical care , there 's no psychiatric help for stress , Alatassi said . Many people read the Quran or the Bible , Jandali said . Most Syrians are Muslim . About 1 in 10 are Christian . `` The only thing they do is pray , '' said Jandali , who lives in New Jersey `` That is the only thing available to them . '' Fear pervades life in other parts of Syria , too . `` We all have martyrs and injuries in our families , '' said Abu Omar , who lives in the southern Syrian province of Quneitra . Because of that , he said , `` we can all relate to each other . '' Gas and food are hard to find , he said . Medicine is scarce . Hospitals have little equipment -- and what they do have is old . `` People depend on each other and help each other with simple medicine , '' Omar said . Relatives have lost track of each other in the chaos that has engulfed Syria for nearly a year . `` I have n't seen my mother for a month and a half even though she lives about seven or eight kilometers away , '' Omar said . Yasmeen , an activist in the West , said most of her relatives in Syria dropped out of school and left their jobs . She recounts tales of regime forces using violence to bring the opposition to its knees . Thugs attacked and pummeled a cousin involved in the protest movement , she said , and his dad was arrested and beaten , as well . She 's heard of people who died after burning wood at home to keep warm -- they had no other fuel to use . Aside from the shelling and gunfire , she said , a lack of money and health care is taking a toll , too . `` A lot of people die , '' she said .
Everyday life in Syria is a struggle . `` Opening your door could be the last thing you do in your life , '' an activist says . One child has nightmares , draws picture of a tank , a fire and her family . People suffer from shortages of food and medications .