My childhood books in Damascus

When I sat down to write this blog yesterday, I tried so hard to recall my childhood, what it felt like to giggle and play with abandon, and how it would relate to or connect with the Syrian children today.

Homs Evacuation
Credits: Photo - Lens Young Homsi | Illustration - Polly Playford

The war in Syria apparently has not only affected our individual and collective memories but it also left me with holes and gaps in memories to bring back different phases and moments of my life.

I do remember, however, the limited choice of children’s books and magazines, and even those weren’t readily available to us children. But that scarcity just made them more precious, more desirable and more valuable to me as a kid.
I would eagerly wait for the monthly magazines, especially the few that were beautifully written, illustrated and laminated as my mother brought them to me or I enjoyed buying them myself from the nearest shop. The glossy colours made a huge difference to all of us kids in Syria and I used to carefully keep them and repeatedly read them until I got new ones. They never got boring to me.
I remember the delight and utter happiness when I received my first two short Disney stories in hard copy at the age of ten. I still have those two until this day in my family’s house in Damascus.

You see, even all that time ago when we Syrians weren’t living with war we were living with oppression, isolation and scarcity and that made those magazines and books all the more charming and more inspiring and educational.

During times of peace, children’s books and magazines are crucial to develop imagination, curiosity and learn some of life's lessons through examples, even if they are being played out by fantasy Disney characters.
And in times of war, they are a lifeline. They do not only make sense of death and war but most importantly, they make sense of life. The lives of children who have lost more than adults, who were born into war and siege and who witness violence and bombardment as part of their daily routine.

In a recent report Save the Children*, estimated 7.5 million Syrian children are growing up knowing nothing but war, and millions of children are consistently exposed to constant stress. This extreme trauma of war is leading not only to psychological scars, but also developmental issues, and a significant increase in chronic health issues such as; heart diseases, diabetes, substances abuse and depression.

But many Syrian organisations are not standing still, rather they are taking the initiatives to mitigate this tragedy. This is why we are honoured to partner with Hurras Network, one of those courageous and amazing Syrian groups. Hurras was launched in 2012 by some volunteers in Syria to raise awareness about children’s rights, protective environments, and coping mechanisms for children amidst the relentless violence.
They have developed a colourful, educational and entertaining magazine, Tayara Waraq which translates as ‘Kite magazine’, to help Syrian children develop their critical thinking and emotional intelligence. The magazine not only teaches the children values of tolerance, solidarity and mutual understanding but also helps them develop their resilience and conflict resolutions skills. Hurras have produced, printed and distributed 100 issues reaching 500,000 children to date inside Syria.

While the international humanitarian response to Syria has had its deficiencies, Syrian organisations and groups, like Hurras, have been the first responders. Local to Global Protection (L2GP) Initiative** shows that while Syrian humanitarians are responsible for delivering 75%of humanitarian assistance in Syria, they received less than 1 % of the direct funding available for Syria response. This unjust contrast informs us how indispensable, efficient and creative Syrian humanitarians have to be while operating within scarce resources and dire situations.  

We can all feel impotent and helpless when it comes to alleviating the suffering of Syria’s children, yet, supporting initiatives like Kite magazine can have an unimaginable impact on the children and their futures.

CanDo believe that people are the next superpower, look at how social movements are popping up all over the globe as communities stand up for one another in a shared vision of humanity. We are a humanitarian movement, we connect global and local humanitarians together to help the affected communities in Syria get access to the funds that local humanitarians, like Hurras, so desperately need to save more lives. We can come together to make this fundamental shift in the humanitarian response.

If you’re interested in supporting Hurras’ Kite magazine project, we will be featuring it as one of our first crowdfunding campaigns on our new platform launching in July. Watch this space for more details.

Author: Kholoud Mansour, Impact Lead for CanDo UPDATE: Support the Hurras Campaign here

Reference: * Invisible Wounds - Save the Children Report ** Funding to national and local humanitarian actors in Syria - L2GP