DAVID ADAMS reports…
Refugee children share the horrors they have been confronted with in Syria’s ongoing civil war in a new report issued as the world marks the three year anniversary of the conflict this Saturday, 15th March.
The World Vision report, Our Uncertain Future, was written by 140 Syrian children aged between 10 and 17 who are now living as refugees in the neighbouring countries of Lebanon and Jordan. In it, they talk about the circumstances they now live in as refugees – in their homes, at school and in the wider communities where they live – as well as the horrors of what they faced in Syria and their hopes for the future.
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FACE OF CONFLICT: Israa. PICTURE: John Warren/World Vision Once, Israa thought her life mattered. On the day of her final exam, warring factions destroyed her school in Syria, shattering her dreams of earning a high-school diploma. The 18-year-old remembers glass flying everywhere, hitting students in the face. As many as 4,000 Syrian schools have been attacked or destroyed. The honor student now spends her time locked up inside a tiny flat with at least 10 others in an impoverished section of Zarqa. She says, “I want to return to Syria, my Syria, a free Syria.“ |
“If I could, I would rebuild my country Syria. I would put back the smile on its face, without a drop of hatred or oppression, keeping the smiles and joy in the hearts of the innocent children who haven’t experienced anything in this life except fear, horror, hunger and displacement,” writes 16-year-old Hasan*.
“Even though I lost hope in any future, still I will dream. My dreams are to continue my education in the field of law and to become a lawyer and defend the oppressed. I want to raise my voice to the entire world, even if only once.”
Eighty-six per cent of those children interviewed for the report had been exposed to violence. They are among 2.5 million Syrians who have fled their homeland as a result of the war which has killed more than 100,000 people, at least 10,000 of which are children.
Children now make up almost half of the 9.3 million people currently in Syria who are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
Tim Costello, chief executive of World Vision Australia, says it is to the world’s shame that children are bearing the brunt of Syria’s civil war.
“Three years of violence has taken a catastrophic toll on the more than 5.5 million children in Syria and across the region,”he says.
“They have been exposed to horrific violence, separated from loved ones and face a daily struggle to survive. Many children are forced to work long hours in back-breaking labour or beg on the streets to support their families.”
Mr Costello called for the international community “to push for all parties to the conflict to put an end to the bloodshed”, speaking “on behalf of Syrian children.”
In the report, the children call for an end to the conflict so they can “go back home”, for the chance to help other children and refugees, for host countries to treat them better and for the “international community to press their governments to cooperate to help us and end this crisis.”
Thirteen-year-old Soha writes in the report: “All the Geneva talks, all the different things…the international community is really not listening to us. If they would only listen to us, if they would only get somewhere, if they would only stop the war, the bombs, if they would only make our lives better, and help us to live in peace – that is all we ask.”
To see a full copy of the report, head to http://worldvision.com.au/Libraries/HEA_reports/Children_of_Syria_Stand_With_Me.pdf
World Vision will join other NGOs at a vigil to stand #WithSyria at 7.30pm this Friday, 14th March, at Federation Square in Melbourne. For more, see www.with-syria.org.
To support World Vision Australia’s Syrian Refugee Crisis Response, call 13 32 40 or see www.worldvision.com.au.
* Names have been changed in the report.
