Essay On How Hard Is To Be Homeless In Syria

Ever since 2011, Syria has become a war zone leaving a lot of people without their homes, family members, and their loved ones. A long time ago, Syria was a cradle of Eastern Civilization and now Syria has become a lonely place with its residents scattered around the world. The ones who did not have a family member in Europe or somewhere safe are left to survive day by day. The ability to enjoy in a carefree childhood is something that is unimaginable for a Syrian child. The country is divided between the ones who support Bashad al-Assad's regime and the ones who support the army of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). The ones who are left undecided and whose main mission is to survive these difficult times are homeless people and children. It is difficult to be homeless everywhere, and the situation is much more difficult is places that are caught in the fire of civil war such as Syria.
Images of homeless Syrian refugees cover the international newspapers with heart breaking stories: women who lost their children, husbands, brothers and sisters. According to Batrawy, a reporter for Associated Press, "The UN estimates that nearly 2.7 million Syrians have fled abroad, mostly to neighboring countries, and another 6.5 million are internally displaced" (Batraway). The number of homeless women, children, and elder is still increasing. The homeless in Syria lack in basic human needs, such as clean water and food. Children cannot play or go to school. They are denied from their right to go to school and are always at risk of being imprisoned and tortured. Additional to these statistics, many children who lost their parents in war have been recruited by ISIL and are given a gun to fight at front lines. Children are the true victims of this civil war, because they represent the future of one country and the country is already half-destroyed. If they are not given the right to live in normal circumstances, their future is doomed to long lasting surviving.
Many lines have been written about the homeless in Syria, but pictures are the ones that bring emotions to surface. Only one picture is needed for a person to react, to feel empathy for a child who had to grow up too fast. An image of a child sleeping peacefully in the arms of an adult is presented in the first picture. The snow is falling on the child and its parent. They are alone, far away from their home. It is cold outside and the winter is at its peak. Forced from their home, these two lonely figures seek for a shelter to protect them from the show and coldness. It seems as if the snow is playing with their fate and it does not intend to stop falling. The contrast of colors is presented in the picture. The two figures, assumingly the father or relative and the child are dark, blurred, as if they present their sad destiny to become homeless and refugees in the middle of the winter. On the other hand, there is the witness of the show, representing the nature. The nature does not care about the ongoing war, about the millions of homeless Syrian people. The winter has its course and will not fall under the strength of weapons. The whiteness can be interpreted as the innocence of this child and the peacefulness while it sleeps. The face of the child blends into the white background presenting its innocence. In the same way as the show is white and clean, the child's soul is clean and innocent. The only good thing about this child is that it is carried by a father or a relative. The child has someone who takes care of him, unlike other children who wonder alone.
The second picture describes a child, alone and cold. The image of a young child covered from head to knees with an old, worn out blanket presents the true victims of every war. The image is no more different than the images of children taken in the World War II. The child is wearing old shoes, much bigger than needed; an every piece of clothes on this child is old and torn. Everything on the child is grey, except the pinks skirt. It resembles the girl from the movie Schindler's List, where the only girl that was not portrayed in black and white picture has red dress. The only vivid color, the color of skirt presents the hope and better future of this country. Everything else is gloom, dark and grey. The show is falling on the cheeks of this young child and it is unaware of that. The child is unaware of the fact that it is cold, that it is showing, that it has lost the right for a childhood. The innocent look on the face on this child speaks about the true victims of civil war in Syria-children. They are not guilty for anything; they are just born in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Every civil war brings out the worst in human beings. The ones who are smart to escape the terror in war have to deal with the fact that they have to leave everything that they worked for behind. The only valuable things that one can take with himself include money and children. Children are our future. If we destroy children, if we do not teach them how to play and enjoy in their childhood, then we do not have future. Children present an innocence of every nation and culture and they should be loved. Instead, children are forced to survive outside, at a cold winter day, to pray for food and love.
Behind every image of a child standing in cold and show a sad story hides. Every child is just a number, a static data in some international report, and many stories remain untold. The reasons for their hopeless position are various. As cited by Sherlock, "In some cases the parents have died, been detained or sent their children into exile alone out of fear for their safety" (Sherlock). Based on these reasons, it may be noticed that a parent would rather send its child in a neighboring country to live alone, than to stay with the parent in Syria. In this way, the country loses its greatest treasure-children. When the war is over, how will build new houses, new roads, schools, and hospitals if no child is left?
The spring is approaching, but winter will last for much more months in these remote, mountain areas of Syria. The children portrayed in these two pictures will dream of better future, of warm and safe place. Their eyes are filled with hope and bewilderment at the same time. All they need is love, food and warmth. Based on the presented pictures, one can see that it is difficult to be homeless in Syria, especially for a child. The basic children rights do not exist in this part of world. The leaders and politicians should put down their weapons, because if they continue to fight, bomb, and destroy their country, no one will be there. The vast majority has left their homes and headed towards refugee camps, others hide in the remote mountain caves, and many are unfortunately dead. If the civil war in Syria continues, one nation will be wiped out, and children will forget how to be children again.

Cited works:

Sherlock, Ruth. "Thousands of Syrian children left to survive alone, says UN". The Telegraph 29. November 2013. Web. 25. February 2015. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10482142/Thousands-of-Syrian-children-left-to-survive-alone-says-UN.html
Batrawy, Ann. "Millions of homeless Syrian refugees worst humanitarian crisis in decades, Europe may have to open borders: UN". Associated Press. 16. October 2014. Web. 25. February 2015. http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/10/16/syrian-refugee-exodus-worst-humanitarian-crisis-in-decades-and-europe-needs-to-accept-millions-more-un-chief-says/