Gifts to Displaced Children in Syria on Eid al-Adha

 Gifts to Displaced Children in Syria on Eid al-Adha

Activities to indulge displaced families in everyday life once again

My country’s people were living in peace before the eruption of the crisis in March  2011. They had got used to wait happy occasions, especially religious ones, to shop and to visit each other’s homes, even at late hours, and to offer desserts.

Nowadays, the Syrian people are missing these traditions and they are even hesitating before uttering the common Arabic greeting: “Eid Mubarak” or “Happy Eid”.

Gloomy expressions have flooded in from all over the country, because of the foreign-backed terrorist acts that have claimed the lives of thousands of innocent citizens in Syria, and displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.

Missed happiness

When I asked a mother, living temporary at a class in “al-Mazeh al-Mohdatheh” school with her five children, about Eid al-Adha, she sadly said : “Eid!!??.. We missed it (as Eid means happy occasion)… The most important thing for me now is security. I really missed my home in alhajar al-aswad suburb.”

Most of mothers in this shelter said the same words; so you can obviously notice that their children do not know the date of the Eid. Their main concern is to return home which they left in volatile suburbs few months ago.

Nevertheless, they want to see smile on their children’s faces, but they don’t know how to realize that in the current situation.

Surprise

These people have no idea about a workshop being organized by the Syrian Trust Development in cooperation with seven partners on the occasion of Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) to surprise them. 

This surprise, which comes within the “Kafo” initiative [Kafo : is a slang term means “can you do it?”], aims to indulge displaced families in the normal everyday life once again, within their shelters, and developing them gradually from service recipients to service providers within those shelters.

 

2500 children

The Initiative’s Coordinator told us that more than 5000 people including 2500 children (aged 0-18 years), who are temporary living in 16 shelters in Damascus, are the target of the initiative that contains interactive social activities within the shelters to help give psychological and social support for both families and children.

Selective activities

“On the occasion of Eid al-Adha, children are to be provided with raw materials to make desserts and produce gifts to their parents. They will also design congratulation cards.” The coordinator said.

This is not everything. A clown and a magician as well as a traditional story teller are to visit each shelter during the four-day Eid to make children laugh.

Toys

Bringing hope and happiness to children is a chief goal to be realized not only through the aforementioned plan, but also by offering gifts such as clothes and toys to children according to each one’s social background.

A bus offered by Damascus Governorate is carrying children’s gifts and toys. It is called the “wonderful bus of Kafo”.

These gifts will bring happiness to both children and parents as smile is a magnet for everyone.

4 sectors

Regarding the mechanism of implementing the initiative, the work is divided into four sectors including schools in Mezzah, Mashroa Dommar, Zahera, and Barzeh (besides Mohajerin and Faihaa).

These areas in Damascus include 16 shelters supervised by the Trust, where well-trained volunteers are working around the clock to notch up the main goals.

Partners

The Trust’s partners in this initiative are the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, “al-Ekhweh” Fund Association, the Scout Association, the Syrian Youths Council, “al-Farah” Association, the Syrian Social Development Association, and the Damascus Voluntary Youths Team.

The coordinator stressed that the government is cooperating with the Non-Governmental Organizations to alleviate the displaced families’ suffering.

There is always tomorrow

The current difficult circumstances in my beloved country brings to my mind a proverb saying: “in our life, we all have sorrows; we all have pains; but we have to remember that there is always tomorrow”. Blessed Eid.

Basma Qaddour