Hoping for a sweet start to the new year

Laynour, Ghadeer, and Mohammed are three Syrian children living with their parents in Azraq refugee camp. Amazingly upbeat despite all they’ve been through, their positivity stands in stark contrast to many of their neighbours in the camp, who will be shivering when the annual winter storms descend this month.

Sweet_Song_Children_760428_blog.jpgMohammed, Laynour and Ghadeer in their tent in Azraq refugee camp

By Suzy Sainovski, Acting Regional Communications Director, Syria Crisis

Meet Laynour. She’s a fun, feisty, five-year-old with pigtails. When she's not playing with dolls with her sister, she loves being the centre of attention and making people laugh.

Then there’s her twelve-year-old brother Mohammed. He’s very relaxed, has a sweet smile, and likes to play football with the bright yellow ball he managed to bring with him from Syria. When he grows up, he'd love to be an actor.

At thirteen, Ghadeer is their confident older sister - friendly, quick to smile, and with a love for studying Arabic and maths at school. She hopes this will help towards her dream of becoming an architect when she’s older.

I was lucky enough to meet these three wonderful children and their parents in the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan, and I was immediately struck by how warm and open they were. It moved me to see their positivity despite all they’d been through.

Sweet_Song_Ball_760428_blog.jpgMohammed plays with the ball he brought from Syria

Changes and memories from home

I had a lot in common with their father, Zakaria. We've both worked as photographers and before the war Zakaria had his own business in Syria specialising in wedding photography. As we chatted, I lent him my camera so he could take some photos of me with his family. He'd had to leave his own camera behind when he and his family fled to Jordan and missed taking photos ever since.

I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to lose my camera and my livelihood. But to lose these things in addition to losing my house, car, friends, and country is something even harder to comprehend. That is what had sadly happened to Zakaria and his family - a family that used to live in suburban Damascus but now lives in a refugee camp.

Zakaria longs for the greenery of his home in Syria, and has planted some vegetables in front of the family’s shelter in the camp. “I brought dried peas with me from Syria and planted them as I wanted to have something green here,” he explains. The greenery is a welcome splash of colour in an otherwise barren landscape.

Zakaria's wife, Fatima, has a similarly positive attitude. “Just because we’re refugees, doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate holidays,” she tells me. Back in Syria, Fatima liked to make a cake to celebrate the New Year with her family. She doesn’t want this tradition to change just because the family now lives in a refugee camp. Fatima explains to me, “I want to start 2015 with sweets, so hopefully the New Year can be as sweet as the cake.”

Fatima pulls out her mobile phone and shows me videos of little Laynour playing in the long, green grass back in Syria. She also proudly shows me a photo of their house. It is clear that she loves and misses Syria and their home.

As Ghadeer's birthday approaches, she wants her friends from another part of the camp to come and visit her family so they can celebrate together. “We will bring some sweets, and sing and remember what we had in Syria.” Ghadeer’s big wish for 2015 is for the war to end so her family and friends can go home.

Sweet_Song_Family_760428_blog.jpgZakaria and Fatima with their family

Help us buy a coat for children like Laynour and Ghadeer this winter

Whilst life is hard for Zakaria and his family, thankfully they have a roof over their heads, access to food and clean water, and their children are attending school. However, the reality for most Syrian refugees is quite different. Often, basic needs aren’t met, and at camps like Azraq, situated in the Jordanian desert, night-time temperatures are frequently brutal.

As families prepare to spend yet another winter away from their homes, World Vision is asking our supporters to help us provide children like Laynour and Ghadeer with a coat to keep them warm. Next Friday 23 January ask your friends and family to sponsor you to go without your coat for the day. For every £14 you raise, we’ll give a Syrian child a World Vision coat that will keep them warm so they can play outside and enjoy their childhoods until spring comes. You may feel cold, but you'll be making a real difference to refugee children living in freezing conditions this winter.

https://assets-staging.worldvision-testing7.co.uk/get-involved/coats-syria/

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