"That was me when I was younger" - reflections on an encounter in Lebanon
Mais, 13, Syrian refugee living in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.
By Rhonda Hirst, Emergency Campaign Manager - World Vision Australia
I remember when I was a child and I’d be at my Grandmother’s for Christmas. My cousins and I used to create a tent to get away from all the activity in the house, to have our own privacy away from all the adults. We would have tea parties, and if we were lucky, we would sleep in it overnight.
When I met Mais,13, I was taken aback by her bubbly demeanour. She would have been that popular girl at school, the one everyone wanted to be friends with. But here, she is a refugee.
Here, her brothers search bins in the neighbouring town in hope of striking lucky and finding some additional food scraps, or maybe some clothes someone has thrown out.
That was me
When Mais tells me about pitching a tent, and having picnics outside her home my eyes well up with tears. That was me when I was younger. That would have been many of us – but circumstantially this young dreamer has a very different memory of her tent-pitching days.
"I used to have fun with my friends and talk about living in a tent, or spending some time in a tent for fun, like entertainment but I thought for real, I would never live in a tent for real, but it is happening for real.
"Sometimes I pretend that I am not in Lebanon, that I am with my friends in Syria, I imagine that and feel it, and then when I think about it again I see myself in Lebanon. This is for real – I am in Lebanon."
The power of her incredible imagination only goes so far. She is a smart girl, whose favourite subject was biology. She would like to be a science teacher when she grows up.
A nightmare
"It’s like a bad dream, I couldn’t believe…. I couldn’t believe that our house was totally destroyed and it was all on the ground."
She knows that if she gets to return to her homeland, things will not be the same.
"If I return to Syria, I know I will sleep on the ground."
The uncanny similarities of children touched me that day. Children are children.
Unfortunately, these days Mais doesn’t play. She’s searching for any kind of work to help contribute to their dire situation when she should be in school, and pitching tents on the weekends playing house with her friends.
There are ways you can help. Sign the petition today, calling on world leaders to put an end to the violence, and commit to building a future free from fear, for children like Mais, who hope for nothing more than a proper roof over their head and a bed to sleep in.
http://bit.ly/nolostgeneration
