Worlds Apart: Syria’s children need our help

By Luci McQuitty Hindmarsh, on October 2nd, 2012

I celebrated a small victory for Ma Puce (The Artist Formerly Known As The Tinkerous Toddler) earlier today; as she got out of the car to head into nursery she told me, “I’m not going to cry today mummy”. I could see from her body language that she meant it and that she was bracing herself to shake hands with her teacher and go into the classroom without shedding a tear.

And she did! In she went and my heart overflowed with love for her as she overcame her tears at the nursery door for the first time in a long while.

On the short drive back I thought about the blog post I am now writing and the difference between my daughter’s little battle with tears and the major battle that the children of Syria face every day. Never have two worlds felt further apart.

Children in Syria are being subjected to unspeakable atrocities

Cat Carter from Save The Children reports from a refugee camp on the boarder with Syria that she has heard accounts of torture: children being hung up on walls and beaten, children even being used as target practice.

Save the Children has been refused permission to access Syria but they are on the ground on the country’s borders, working to help children come to terms with the devastating psychological impact of their experiences, providing specialist support to children showing signs of distress, including self-harm, nightmares and bedwetting.

We must send a signal to those committing these appalling crimes that the world is watching and that they will be held to account. Save The Children is calling for the UN to step up its documentation of all violations of children’s rights in Syria and asking that it should have more resources to do this, so that crimes against children are not committed with impunity.

We have to do everything possible to help put a stop to this unspeakable violence against children. You can play your part in protecting children by calling on the UN to make sure every crime is recorded.

You can also donate to Save the Children here. All money raised will help to provide basics like food and blankets to children in refugee camps.

To find out more about the Save Syria’s Children campaign, visit the Save the Children website here

Luci McQuitty Hindmarsh

mother.wife.me AKA Luci McQuitty Hindmarsh. I'm a London based blogger, writer and social media maven. This is a personal blog about my life as a MOTHER to a little girl, WIFE to a businessman husband and all the other general stuff that happens to ME.