OUT IN THE COLD – SYRIA’S CHILDrEN LEFT UNPROTECTED

“My brothers are getting cold, too. My two youngest brothers can’t

say many words yet, but now when they get cold, they say that word:

“cold”. They know that word. They know cold.”

Rami*, 11 years old

“As a father, if I didn’t hold my family tight and try to lead them

as best I can, support them and raise my children the very best

I can … if I didn’t do this, we would die from the cold.”

BILAL, RAMI’S FATHER

These two quotes are from a father and his son, both refugees from Syria now

living in a tent in the middle of a wind-swept desert in Jordan. Winter is coming,

and Rami is only one of over 200,000 children across the region left out in the

cold as temperatures plummet.

As Syria’s brutal civil war enters its 20th month, thousands of families continue to

pour across the borders, seeking safety in neighbouring countries. Children have been

forced to take refuge in abandoned schools, animal sheds, and unfinished buildings.

Some are staying in apartments they can no longer afford, while others are confined

to refugee camps, living in leaky tents.

Save the Children is working in these countries, providing direct relief and assistance

to more than 80,000 people now living in Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. We have spoken

to these families and heard first-hand how children are suffering and parents are

taking increasingly desperate measures to keep them alive as the needs continue

to grow, temperatures drop – and aid falters.

As their situation becomes increasingly dire, these families have told us their

stories. We are publishing this report to allow the voices of these children and

their desperate parents to be heard, and listened to before it’s too late. We must

all act now to ensure that families get the support they so urgently require so that

as winter sets in, these children are not left out in the cold.

Fonte: Save the Children

http://www.savethechildren.ca/document.doc?id=278