When Syria’s civil war began in 2011, with dictator Bashar al-Assad’s violent crackdown on peaceful protesters, Hussein al-Khalaf was only 5.
The war made it impossible for Hussein to study in his hometown of Abu Kamal located near the Iraq border. He and his family were among millions of Syrians fighting for survival. That’s when Hussein and his family fled to the southwestern Syria city of Sahnaya, only 27 kilometers away from Damascus.
“I found the phone number of one of my friends and called him. He told me that Majed, who was also my friend, had died. Majed played football with us,” he told reporters, brushing away tears with a trembling hand.
Hussein is now 15. He was finally able to return to school and go to first grade in 2018.
Unfortunately, for many Syrians, this is not a unique story.
Another child, Ramen, and his parents were forced to move to another area after their house was bombed. He attended school for four months before it also got attacked and destroyed. “Why are they bombing the school? Is it to prevent us from studying, and not having a future? Is it so that we don’t become doctors or lawyers?” the child asked.
The United Nations International Children’s Fund, or UNICE, has urgently launched an education program for kids facing these struggles. The school works in two shifts, aiming to help the youth catch up with the curriculum.
Before the war broke out in Syria, there were 20,000. Now, only about half are left. Most educational institutions were either bombed or taken over by the government-backed forces. One of the schools in northern Syria was destroyed right in front of a teacher.
“The first blast at the school came in the northeast corner. The projectile hit the school fence. It was destroyed, and in the eastern part of the building, all windows and doors were knocked out. More than six people died, more than 30 were injured. The second blow was aimed at the entrance of the school. The shell fell in the middle of the street. Many who were just passing by died and suffered. Thank God, the attack was at 8 in the morning on a Saturday, and there were no children at the school,” said the teacher.
During one of these bombings, the then seven-year-old Khalid lost his right hand. It all happened in Idlib, where explosions and shots are still constantly heard.
“I played with my friends in the yard. A plane flew in and bombed the school. I was hurt in the arm and my head. I fell asleep and woke up in a hospital in Turkey,” Khalid recalls.
Most of the children who are currently studying in Sakhna have fled from other parts of Syria — Raqqa, Aleppo, Deir ez Zora, Idlib and Abu Kamal.
And although the school building shows signs of damage, old furniture, and overall rough conditions, the children are still happy to attend and at least partially return to a normal, pre-war life. According to Save the Children, approximately 7.5 million children in Syria grew up without seeing anything but war. As a consequence, the children’s psyche often can’t handle it, many kids and adolescents have become too tough. But psychologists are working with them to ensure their mental well-being.
Vadim Sechin is a journalist and Daryna Sarhan is a translation editor with Channel 7 Odesa, owned by the KADORR Group that also published the Kyiv Post.
