Resilience has its limits

Syrian children need our help to piece their lives back together

March 15, 2023, marks the beginning of the 13th year of war, violence, and destruction in Syria. The ongoing conflict has led to thousands of families and children being displaced and living in widespread poverty. Half of Syria’s children have grown up knowing nothing but war, living without proper access to basic services and now the recent earthquakes have only made matters worse. Children of Syria are living in fear. They are afraid of the violence, the ground they walk on, and the walls they use to call their homes. How much more can Syrian children be expected to endure?

Rasha Muhrez, Save the Children Syria Response Director shares a story about her teenage cousins Maya and Tala, living in Syria during the recent earthquakes, “When the ground shook that night, it took only seconds for them to be buried under the weight of every possession they owned. Maya’s father rushed from the village, and the neighbors came, but with only their hands they were helpless against the crumpled steel and concrete. After 10 hours under the rubble Maya’s lungs gave up, and she suffocated. When she was finally pulled out, her body was still warm. She had just died. The rescue was just a few minutes too late. Maya died right before her 19th birthday, along with her best friend and cousin Tala, her uncle, and her aunt.”

Maya and Tala are two of the millions of children who lived majority of their childhood in the most difficult circumstances. They persevered despite facing dwindling resources, they went to school hungry, and they endured cold winters and nights. They worked hard to secure a better future – or at least, they tried.

But resilience has its limits.

Even before the earthquake, after 12 years of conflict, humanitarian needs across Syria were vast. These earthquakes mean that families are more likely to be forced to make impossible decisions for their children, including life-altering compromises on basic education, nutrition, health care, and their children’s protection. And may even take a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.

Save the Children has been providing support to children in Syria since 2012, through local partners. Our goal is to ensure that every child in Syria survives, learns, and is protected. Since the earthquakes, relief efforts have been ramped up with the delivery of food, blankets, tents, and warm clothing.

But there is still more that needs to be done for the families and children in Syria. The time is now for the international community to do its part, especially to avoid the secondary impacts of the earthquake. The children should not be left to shoulder these challenges alone – they need our support.

Syria not only needs immediate needs to be met but also a focus on recovery is important. Rasha explains, “Schools will need to be rehabilitated and hospitals made fit for purpose. Children need safe homes to live in, not tents. Their parents need jobs that pay a decent wage and allow them to provide for their families. Without a change in approach, just to rebuild what’s lost, Syrians would need to wait another lifetime.”

“Time and time again, when disaster and tragedy strike, they have not given up. They have not turned to hopelessness,” says Rasha when describing the resilience of her fellow Syrians. “In my last visit to Syria, I saw devastation and suffering. But I also saw solidarity and hope. I saw people who opened their doors to their neighbors, cooked hot meals for them, split food that had already been rationed, they took care of younger children and older people. In the last 12 years, Syria has endured conflict, economic crisis, and now, natural disaster. What more needs to happen to make the international community act differently? The children of Syria are counting on us all.

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Note:

The Blog above contains quotes extracted from Rasha Muhrez’s speech at the UN Security Council session on humanitarian needs in Syria on 28 February 2023.