How World Vision is Helping the Syrian Crisis

In 2014 statistics, World Vision (WV) provided support to over 382,000 syrian refugees, 65 per cent of beneficiaries were children. Currently, there are 13.5 million people in Syria that need humanitarian assistance due to a violent civil war, half of those affected are children. Retrieved from the WV magazine, WV has supported help to 1.7 people in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

Due to the Syrian crisis between 2-3 million children are not attending their regular classes. Either these classrooms have been blown up by bombs or their family were in danger and needed to flee their homes. Many of these children do not have the playful lives they used to have. They were forced into adulthood and care for their families. According to the U.N. children’s agency, the war reversed 10 years of progress in education for Syrian children.

Lucy Strickland, World Vision’s specialist in education in emergencies, based in Geneva, Switzerland, remarks that without education and safe spaces in which children can be with their peers again and continue learning, they face increased protection risks. Girls can fall prey to early marriage and pregnancy, increased exposure to sexual and gender-based violence, and, of course, dropping out of the education system altogether with a high likelihood of never returning.

In the magazine article “Syria Crisis: Scars of War” by Sevil Omer, an 8 year old Syrian child was interviewed. Khalida longs for the day when she can run through her cobbled streets to hug her teachers and classmates. “I loved school. I was learning. I wanted to learn how to write. I love it,” she says.

Child-Friendly Spaces

Children like Khalida, hope to receive help from WV. WV has created Child-Friendly Spaces to help displaced children learn to read, write, and do math. These spaces let children feel safe to play, learn and express themselves. Most of these children’s innocent eyes have seen the most horrible sites, therefore WV provides psychosocial programs.

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World Vision U.S. President Rich Stearns, confirms that WV can make sure children, some of whom have already been out of school for up to four years, continue with their education.

References

Omer,. S (2015) Syria Crisis: Scars of War. World Vision. Retrieved from: http://magazine.worldvision.org/stories/syria-crisis-scars-of-war

Cascioli., R (March 2014) Real-time evaluation of World Vision’s response to the Syrian Crisis. ALNAP. Retrieved from: http://www.alnap.org/resource/19518

Author: Kristi Seaby

Photo Credit: Photos by Jon Warren & Elias Abu Ata From World Vision

Author: Steven Don

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