Professional Global Web Contact Part I: Save the Children: Children Under Seige in Syria

Report: Save the Children
Organization

A new report from Save the Children reveals that barrel bombs, air strikes and shelling are the greatest issues for the more than a quarter of a million children estimated to be living in the besieged areas in Syria.  Parents share the horrors of family life under siege including dealing with the psychological impact on children terrified of explosions and the severe consequences of being deprived of food, basic medicine, and clean water.  A Syrian aid worker describes what it is like to live under siege (2016), “There are snipers shooting at anyone on the road, and landmines in the fields.  Checkpoints stop everything coming in – food, medicine, fuel; everything needed for life.  They stop people leaving, even sick children in need of medical help.  Homes and schools lie in ruins from bombing.  Children are starving and the markets are empty.  It is the 21st century but here it is like hundreds of years ago.  This is what it means to live under siege” (p.3).  The children are the most vulnerable.  “Children are living on the verge of death.  They are forced to eat leaves – even flour and milk is forbidden to bring in” (Syrian aid worker, n.d).  A child states, “When I hear the sound of a shell or a plane, then I get very afraid and I hurry to escape and hide under my bed” (Ahmed, a boy in Duma).  A mother reports, “The wounded are left to die because there is no medicine to save their lives” (Haya, a mother in Eastern Ghouta).  This year marks the fifth year the country has been under siege.  The conflict in Syria is the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time.  Indiscriminate, brutal violence against civilians and the denial of aid has forced half of the population to flee their homes, with 6.6 million people displaced inside Syria.  A mother states, “Fear has taken control.  Children now wait for their turn to be killed.  Even adults live only to wait for their turn to die.  When will my turn come” (Rihab, a mother in Eastern Ghouta).  It is believed that between 250,013 and 470,014 have been killed.  The crisis is deteriorating even further with the active involvement of the Russian military, which is the latest in a seemingly never-ending spiral of military escalations.  At least 14 nations, including four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, are now militarily engaged in Syria.  Another 4.7 million refugees seeking safety and assistance are in neighboring countries and in Europe.  Children and their families are literally facing every issue we have discussed so for, changing demographics, poverty, hunger, lack of access to school, medical care, basic medicine, toys, and more.  They are denied the right to work and to go to school.  They are not able to meet even their most basic needs.  This is horrific and no child or family should have to undergo this.  While they should have been growing and learning during the critical first 5 years of life, Syria’s children have known only 5 long years of war.  I cannot even fathom the detrimental effects on all areas of children’s development; they are clearly suffering from trauma.  While they should have been growing and learning during the critical first 5 years of life, Syria’s children have known only 5 long years of war.  Here is the year-by-year account:

CHILDHOOD: The Greatest Casualty of Syria’s War
LIFE	Age	WAR
FIRST STEPS One of many happy milestones in a child’s first year of life	YEAR ONE	FIRST SHOTS The terrifying sound children heard when Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011
A DOZEN WORDS What a child learns by age 2, plus how to walk, run and jump	YEAR TWO	DOZENS OF CHILDREN The number reported in The number reported in 2012 to have been used as human shield

GEOMETRIC The kinds of shapes 3-year-olds like to sort, while playing with puzzles and games	YEAR THREE	CHEMICAL Weapons used in civilian attacks killing 426 innocent children in 2013
ABCs What a child starts to recognize by age 4, while singing songs and learning stories	YEAR FOUR	BOMBS Explosive weapons targeted on schools, leaving 1.6 million children unable to learn in 2014
TEN How many objects 5-year-olds can count, plus proudly say their name and address	YEAR FIVE	ONE The shocking photo of Alan Kurdi, whose tiny body washed ashore in 2015

Table: Save the Children.org

Save the Children workers are engaged in relief efforts inside Syria and in neighboring countries refugee camps.  To date, they have supplied 130,000 people with clean water, 34,500 children with a place to learn 3,500 emergency patients with care each week, 145,000 people with warm clothes and shelter, and 16 centers supporting traumatized children.  However, the war continues in Syria and the United Nations estimates there are 6.5 million displaced people in besieged or hard-to-reach areas.  Many live in dire need in abandoned buildings, open spaces and in informal camps mainly in the north near the border with Turkey, where there are few or no services available.  Some families are resorting to such negative coping strategies as eating less, marrying off girl children, and sending children to work in exploitative labor, which breaks my heart.  Getting the much-needed help to Syria is critical for the immediate and future well-being of children and families.  I urge you to read the report and check out the Voices from the Field blog.  While it is heart wrenching, they provide a very clear view of the many issues children are facing internationally and a glimpse of what is being done to help.

Reference

Save the Children.org (2016). Retrieved from  http://www.savethechildren.org/site/ c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/ b.7998857/k.D075/Syria.htm