This week marks the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Syrian war. Five years of fighting, death, destruction. Heartbreaking stories, loss and questions. How much longer can this go on for? How is this going to end?
Five years of senseless violence have displaced almost half of the Syrian population: out of the 23 million Syrians (pre-war), over 6 millions are internally displaced, and almost 5 million fled the country.
The word “tragedy” doesn’t even begin to define what some describe as the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time. You can search the internet and read countless stories about the curtain of sadness that has been wrapping itself around Syria. But that’s not what I want to share with you.
As the world marks this dark anniversary, I want to bring you hope and beauty. Yes, amid the ugliness that is this civil war, something amazing happened.
A number of Syrian families have been resettled in a neighboring community near me. Moms, dads and children, who left their homes with nothing but a suitcase. After spending several years in transit, in camps that sometimes had little to no education for their children, they arrived in the United States…and a new life began. It had to, because who’s to say what the future holds for Syria?
How do you find the strength to start over again when you have lost everything? Left so many loved ones behind? Don’t speak the language? Don’t have anyone to turn to?
You look at your kids and you keep on going. For their sake, for their future, you knock obstacles down one by one and you move forward.
As parents ourselves, we feel their anxiety to do well by their kids, their eagerness to be able to look their children in the eye and say, “It’s okay, little guy, everything’s gonna be all right, Mom and Dad are here”. This is where beauty kicks in. We, parents in the community could feel, almost touch, the burning desire of these adults to give their children the best, to leave the war behind and pick up building their future where they left it. After all, isn’t it what we all want? A great future for our kids?
So we started working with the families, to give them support and together, crush as many hurdles as we could. But we never expected the surge of kindness and hard work that ensued. People from all backgrounds, and all faiths got together. Mosques, synagogues, churches, non believers, we all rolled up our sleeves and gave ourselves one mission: put these guys back on their feet. Their kids, like our kids, deserve the best shot possible at a bright future, and we owe it to them to lend a helping hand. Because we are all someone’s mom, dad or child.
Yes, the world can be a cruel place. But when we are able to unite, despite political ideologies or religious beliefs, there is hope that good will take over.
Do you have any stories where seemingly different people unite their efforts to move mountains?
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by Nadege Nicoll. She was born in France but now lives permanently in New Jersey with her family. Nadege also writes a daily blog for moms who need to smile at everyday life. She can be found on Twitter, Facebook and her website www.nadegenicoll.com.
Nadege Nicoll
Nadege Nicoll was born in France but now lives permanently in New Jersey with her family. She stopped working in the corporate world to raise her three children and multiple pets, thus secretly gathering material for her books. She writes humorous fictions for kids aged 8 to 12. She published her first chapter book, “Living with Grown-Ups: Raising Parents” in March 2013. Her second volume in the series just came out in October 2013. “Living with Grown-Ups: Duties and Responsibilities” Both books take an amusing look at parents’ inconsistent behaviors, seen from the perspective of kids. Nadege hopes that with her work, children will embrace reading and adults will re-discover the children side of parenthood. Nadege has a few more volumes ready to print, so watch this space…
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I have had EXACTLY the same experience here in Greece this week.
People I honestly never expected to be so sympathetic towards the 5.000 Syrian refugees brought to Ioannina this weekend, have come forward to help as best they can. People from all political, social and religious backgrounds. I have been delighted at the sympathy and positive attitude which is being shown by MOST people.
The schools, hospitals, university and neighbourhoods are rallying together to provide cooking utensils, toiletries, clothes, blankets etc to help as best they can. The New Government is also pro-refugees….
There will be many obstacles along the road but when people are open minded and above all KIND things will get done!
It is so heart warming to find that people are able to unite because of empathy and leave aside whatever differences between them. I am so pleased you are finding hearts of gold around you. There are many, sometimes, they just need an opportunity to shine!
Nadege, this post makes me want to look out in my surrounding communities and see if any refugee families have been relocated here. After all, America is a country rich with immigrants. Syrians will just be our newest to the mix. I wish you had shared more details about the durian families your helping and ways that people are getting involved but I thank you for planting the seed!
Hi Kyla,
I am always happy to share more if you are interested. Getting to know the Syrian families and working with them is a very rewarding experience. I am so grateful for being given an opportunity to help make a difference, but I feel that these guys have enriched my life in more ways than I am trying to do with them.
Wonderful post and great reminder of the beauty of humanity. It’s easy to lose that in all the chaos, but you articulate the resiliency and love perfectly!
Thank you for your kind words Tara. We all share that common thread of wanting what’s best for our kids. And sometimes, that’s all that keeps us going. It has to.
Thanks for writing about your experience with Syrian refugees Nadege. I love hearing about how different people can unite their efforts….especially when it’s for our children….who are our collective future. Wish we were hearing more stories like this in the news.