Written by O.D.
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Sunday, 14 October 2012 15:46 |
Stopping on a red light while driving in the streets of Damascus, the sight of barefoot, skinny and dirty children moving between cars and begging for money, food or anything else is becoming painfully frequent in the city. While you look at their sad, sun-burned faces, you can't stop wondering where do they spend their nights, and what will happen to them in few weeks from now when it rains. Answers are equally sad, most of these children live with their parents in public gardens, or sometimes, simply on sidewalks. Marjeh Square, a historical site in Damascus, and traditionally its city center, recently became an open shelter for a number of families who left their destroyed houses in the poor suburbs surrounding the Syrian capital.
The war in Syria left hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Stories of refugees seeking shelter in schools, mosques and public gardens became a daily life issue. In a wedding hall in Al-Tal, a northern suburb of Damascus, a bed sheet is used to divide the hall into two parts; one for men and another for women and children. Mostly from Homs, I'm afraid to ask what became of them when the town was bombed, then break into on the evening of Eid-Al-Fitr day by government forces. Back to the traffic light, it becomes finally green and you drive your way to your destination, maybe feeling happy because there are more traffic lights on your way. But the image of these miserable young children will haunt you most of the day, and the next morning ... you have a date with the same red light.
O.D
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Last Updated on Friday, 26 October 2012 10:12 |