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Syria 5 years on: Children paying the cost of war

What the children of Syria have faced cannot be measured or imagined. They have lost fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends. They’ve also lost homes, dreams, the joy of play and an education. It is no exaggeration to say that they have lost their childhoods. World Vision Lebanon’s Sana’a Malouf tells us about the challenges ahead…

Resilience and hope: Syrian children in education in Jordan

World Vision Supporter Kate Jinadu addressed our event in the UK Parliament last week, speaking about the devastating effect the Syrian war has had on education. Here, she gives her reflections on a recent trip to Jordan, where she got to see some of our remedial classes that are helping child refugees reconnect with education…
would come and that education for the children of Syria would rise to the top of the international

EU policy on refugees costing children’s lives, says World Vision

Leaders gathered in Brussels today must fulfill their responsibility to protect children, no matter where they live or where they have come from, says World Vision.

Through the eyes of a refugee child: A story in 23 pictures

We recently visited an Informal Tented Settlement in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley that houses Syrian refugees. When it rains, the camp turns into a mud pit, making it hard for children who only have rubber shoes to walk. But when the sun comes out, mothers hang out laundry and children find a way of playing in the most difficult of circumstances. Here are their stories, in pictures…

A Rock and a Hard Place

A World Vision Supporter, Philip Jinadu, discusses his recent visit to Azraq Refugee Camp. Speaking of the families he met that simply want the best for their children, he talks about how World Vision's schooling projects are making a difference.

Waiting to start a new life

Syrian refugee and father, Fahad, discusses the treacherous couple of years he and his family have endured since fleeing their home. Sleeping at a roadside with his wife and 5 children, all Fahad wishes for is safety and a place for his family to call home.

Serbia: Sadness starts in the South

Our Head of Policy Gavin Crowden spent last week in Serbia, walking with refugees and hearing their stories. What he found were parents who had fled a depleted Syria, desperately searching for a 'home' that often exists amongst relatives abroad, and a future for their children.

Conquering the cold

Last week World Vision's Kate took bloggers Rosie and Tanya out to Jordan to meet just a few of the 230,000 Syrian refugees living there who are in need of help to get through the winter. World Vision UK is asking supporters to go without their coats on the 10 February to raise money for Syrian refugee children.

Water is life

For father-of-four Ali, fleeing the conflict in Syria was only the start of his families’ hardship. Reaching the relative safety of a refugee camp in Lebanon, it was the difficulty in obtaining safe water that was not only a daily struggle, but also a real health risk. But thanks to a World Vision ‘Water, Sanitation and Hygiene’ programme, the availability of clean water is helping to keep Ali’s family and the wider community healthy.

Freezing in the cold

Sitting in the middle of an empty field near the border-crossing between Serbia and Croatia, Rima, a Syrian refugee is in tears as she describes how she felt when her eight-year-old daughter Aya begged her to let her die. Brenda Yu hears her story...

Happiness

Salah is 12-years-old and lives in Lebanon with his family as a refugee. Back in Syria he went to school, the family had a car, and lived in a house. Now, traumatised by the conflict and sights he saw, the Child Friendly Space in his informal settlement is the only place he feels safe.

Too cold to get out of bed

With winter approaching, many of the families who escaped fighting in Iraq, now find themselves sheltering in unfinished buildings at the Syrian border. We met siblings Hareman and Manaa who are trying to make the best of a desperate situation by keeping warm and playing with the other children staying nearby.

What happens when girls flee conflict zones

World Vision Communicator, Patricia Mouamar, reports on the dangers facing many refugee girls fleeing conflict zones, and reflects on her own experiences growing up in 1980s Lebanon. She meets some of the Syrian refugee girls, whose lives were being stunted by early marriage and child labour.

My tent, my home

Fourteen-year-old Ahmed is one of millions of children affected by the Syrian conflict that began in 2011. Separated from his parents and seeking refuge in Lebanon, Ahmed works many hours a day in order to ensure his well-being until his parents are able to cross the borders from Syria and find him.

When rain turns to snow

In the parks of Belgrade, Serbia, many refugees have pitched tents as they wait to continue their journey into Europe. We spoke to four-year-old Nagisa who has recently arrived with her family. With her father frantically trying to keep their clothes and belongings dry, there are fears that conditions will become worse as winter approaches.

Making up for lost time

In refugee camps in Lebanon, people are desperate for some kind of normality to return. From children missing out on an education, to shopkeepers attempting to ply their trade - everybody is conscious of lost time as they wait for peace to come to Syria.

Leaving nobody behind

This weekend, world leaders meet at the UN in New York to agree to a new set of global goals that charities and governments together will focus on over the next fifteen years. WVUK Social Media Manager Kate Shaw shares three stories on the subject of early/forced marriage - an area that wasn't fully tackled in the last set of goals but that she hopes will be at the top of the table this time around.

A mother's tears

World Vision Photojournalist Laura Reinhardt spent time at the Serbia-Hungary border this week, meeting refugees and hearing their stories as they wait in limbo. She spoke to mother-of-three Kenaz, who explained how she desperate she is for her husband in Sweden to meet their new son Noor and to reunite the family.

Peaceful in the treetops

World Vision's Suzy Sainovski recently visited in a friend in Lebanon. While she was there, they released an owl back into the wild, who had previously been mistreated, amid sounds of bombing from nearby Syria. This juxtaposition of peace and war invited Suzy to reflect on the futility of conflict.

Twelve short months - Refugees and the Syria crisis

When the UN meets to agree the new Sustainable Development Goals next week, World Vision's Rob Henderson reflects on our collective need to go further this time if we really want the world to move forward in the next fifteen years. With Syria being the humanitarian crisis of our time, our response will define a generation.