Many of the children of Daraya have never seen a space like this. They were born into war, into the barren and blown out landscape that the Assad regime & its Russian backers turned the Damascus suburb Daraya and huge swaths of Syria into. For years this area was under siege, its population starved, bombed, and forcibly displaced. The kids were timid at first, the soft flooring, the different toys and activities all something of a novelty, such a contrast to their world outside. They were so polite, repeatedly asking “Can I play with this? Is this all for us?” This space will have playtime, a reading corner, all sorts of fun activities and also many related to the children’s mental health. We will conduct group and one on one sessions for those who need it. One of the jarring things I heard was that in this area alone some 15,000 men were disappeared by the regime. We will also be conducting activities and mental health sessions for the mothers. Women are carrying the burden of both mother and father. Children constantly ask “where is Daddy?” Mothers used to say “Daddy is with the regime”. But they can’t say that anymore, the kids are responding “the regime is gone, why isn’t Daddy home”. Mothers don’t know how to explain that Daddy disappeared, that he’s either in a yet to be discovered mass grave or one of the corpses that was dug up, that he was just a number for the Assad regime. The traumas across this country are deep, raw wounds. In Daraya, we are also in the process of setting up a mobile primary care medical van. This is just the start of our work in Syria. We travelled to other areas pinpointing where we need to expand to, what sort of programs are needed. There are so many kids who never got the medical treatment they need to physically recover from their war injuries or whose parents can’t afford the cost. There’s a lot of work to be done in the mental health and access to education space, needs ranging from hygiene to nutrition. We’re trying to raise as much as we can this holiday season, so please donate here: https://t.co/z6FKlnUD4H And if you can’t please please do share.
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