- Title: SYRIA: A family in Aleppo speak of their plight in war-torn Syria
- Date: 21st April 2014
- Summary: ALEPPO, SYRIA (RECENT) (VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS) DESTROYED HOUSE IN A RESIDENTIAL PART OF ALEPPO NEIGHBOURHOOD WHERE A YOUNG GIRL NAMED JOUDI LIVES WITH HER FAMILY SYRIAN FAMILY SEATED OUTSIDE WITH FOUR CHILDREN LITTLE BOY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ALEPPO RESIDENT, NINE-YEAR-OLD, JOUDI, SAYING: "Hello, my name is Joudi, I am nine years old and I live in Aleppo, in the Masaken Hanano neighbourhood. My father is a martyr, and we deprived him. I have a hole in my heart and there is no medication. All the pharmacies are closed and we have been deprived of everything. A jet shelled our house and we were hit by two barrel bombs. Look at our house, look at this destruction, look at those kids. We have lost everything. My mother wants us to flee to Turkey, but we don't have any money." JOUDI'S FAMILY WALKING PAST DEBRIS TO ENTER THEIR HOME JOUDI'S FAMILY ENTERING A ROOM IN THEIR HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) JOUDI'S MOTHER, UNIDENTIFIED, SAYING: "I am the wife of a martyr and I have three children, two girls and one boy. The boy is the smallest; he has never met his father because of his age. He was only eight months old when his father died, and therefore never set eyes on his father and never felt his tenderness. He doesn't remember anything of the past. Life now is very hard. A husband being near his wife in these days of war is itself a safety for a woman and her children. Now I have no husband, he was taken from me because of this war and destruction." DESTROYED BUILDING DESTROYED FURNITURE IN SIDE OF BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) JOUDI'S GRANDMOTHER, UNIDENTIFIED, SAYING: "It has been three years since the war started and we are progressing into the fourth. How long will this last? We ask our God that we do not wish for anything, not food, not drink, only for the air strikes to stop destroying our lives. I sometimes lose the ability to hear as a result of the noise of air strikes." (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DIRECTOR OF GHIRAS FOUNDATION IN ALEPPO, HAITHAM OTHMAN, SAYING: "We spotted a number of negative psychological and social effects, particularly on children. Anxiety, lack of stability and safety concerns lead to great fears of losing those they depend on. Large numbers of children are now apprehensive; they stay close to their mothers or grandfathers as a result of losing their fathers. There are a number of early marriage states we want to observe... a negative result too because a big number of family members is considered a burden sometimes, so some families end up marrying children being very young. These children are unable to adjust appropriately like an adult would and therefore display negative or antisocial behaviour, sometimes violent and sometimes introvert." VARIOUS OF DESTRUCTION SEEN IN THE MASAKEN HANANO NEIGHBOURHOOD IN SYRIA
- Embargoed: 6th May 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Syrian Arab Republic
- Country: Syria
- Topics: War / Fighting
- Reuters ID: LVACLO30BI9US58USB9D1FRBADEO
- Story Text: Children in Syria's ravaged Aleppo bear the brunt of the three-year-old civil war that has destroyed what was once a major commercial hub.
The number of children affected by the civil war in Syria has more than doubled over the past year, according to the United Nations Children's Fund, with hundreds of thousands of young Syrians trapped in besieged parts of the country.
One family in Masaken Hanano neighbourhood in Aleppo speak of their plight, living in a city that comes under attack by "barrel bombs" nearly every day - strikes in which helicopters drop highly destructive improvised explosives.
Joudi, who is nine-years-old says she suffers from a congenital heart disease, but her family does not have enough money to flee to Turkey for safety and medical treatment.
"Hello, my name is Joudi, I am nine years old and I live in Aleppo, in the Masaken Hanano neighbourhood," she said, surrounded by her mother and younger siblings. "My father is a martyr, and we deprived him. I have a hole in my heart and there is no medication. All the pharmacies are closed and we have been deprived of everything. A jet shelled our house and we were hit by two barrel bombs. Look at our house, look at this destruction, look at those kids. We have lost everything. My mother wants us to flee to Turkey, but we don't have any money."
Joudi's family say many who lived in this part of Aleppo have fled the neighbourhood, escaping from daily shelling.
Much of the neighbourhood has been destroyed, with shattered windows seen and debris littered around the grounds of wrecked buildings.
Joudi's mother, who declined to give her name, says she no longer feels safe in her home.
"I am the wife of a martyr and I have three children, two girls and one boy," she said. "The boy is the smallest; he has never met his father because of his age. He was only eight months old when his father died, and therefore never set eyes on his father and never felt his tenderness.
"He doesn't remember anything of the past. Life now is very hard. A husband being near his wife in these days of war is itself a safety for a woman and her children. Now I have no husband, he was taken from me because of this war and destruction."
Joudi's grandmother says the family pray for an end to deadly air strikes.
"It has been three years since the war started and we are progressing into the fourth," said Joudi's grandmother, declining to give her name. "How long will this last? We ask our God that we do not wish for anything, not food, not drink, only for the air strikes to stop destroying our lives. I sometimes lose the ability to hear as a result of the noise of air strikes."
One local charity that works to support widows and children orphaned in Aleppo says the dangers faced by children go beyond death and injury.
"We spotted a number of negative psychological and social effects, particularly on children," said Haitham Othman, director of Ghiras Foundation. "Anxiety, lack of stability and safety concerns lead to great fears of losing those they depend on. Large numbers of children are now apprehensive; they stay close to their mothers or grandfathers as a result of losing their fathers.
"There are a number of early marriage states we want to observe... a negative result too because a big number of family members is considered a burden sometimes, so some families end up marrying children being very young.
"These children are unable to adjust appropriately like an adult would and therefore display negative or antisocial behaviour, sometimes violent and sometimes introvert," he added.
A report by UNICEF last month described Syria as "one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a child", with those caught in the conflict having lost "virtually every aspect of their childhood."
The UNICEF report said 2 million children needed some form of psychological support or treatment while a total of 5.5 million children were affected by the conflict - some of them inside Syria and others living abroad as refugees.
This is more than twice the number of children affected by the conflict in March 2013, when UNICEF estimated it had impacted 2.3 million young Syrians.
The UNICEF report said Syrian children are being been forced to grow up faster than any child should - one in 10 Syrian refugee children is now working while one in every five Syrian girls in Jordan is forced into early marriage.
More than 150,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict, which started as a peaceful protest movement against President Bashar al-Assad's rule in March 2011 and turned into civil war after a government crackdown. The United Nations estimates more than 10,000 of those killed were children, but admit the real number is probably higher. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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