A few months ago I wrote a post called 'Will you look away?' about the atrocities in Syria. Along with two other bloggers we called on fellow bloggers to get involved and spread awareness of what was happening there. About 90 bloggers took up the cause and in one day we reached hundreds of thousands of people causing over 3 million impressions.
Some of those people reading shrugged their shoulders and asked what good would it do. I couldn't answer that question but knew with every fibre of my being that it was better to do something than nothing at all. Better to write a blog post that no one read than to not write it at all.
Sadly three months on the people of Syria still need our help. But we CAN help.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking is a line I read from Wael, 16 who says “This six year old boy was tortured more than anyone else in that room. He only survived for three days and then he simply died.”
A six year old boy. I have a six year old boy. Six years old. He has blonde hair and a cheeky smile. He plays football and nintendo, he rides his bike down the road and cries if he has a bad fall running home to be comforted. A six year old boy just like that other six year old boy. No difference. I wonder if his mother was there, in that room, watching, unable to comfort or save her beautiful boy.
Save the Children are acting on two fronts -
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| Image: Save the Children |
Save the Children, who fight for the rights of children in over 120 countries, has just launched a campaign to come to the aid of Syrian children and have produced a collection of first-hand accounts of the conflict from children and parents receiving help from Save the Children after fleeing Syria.
I know you want to help, and reading this and feeling like there is nothing you can do is hard, so here are three very real ways that you can:
1. Sign the petition. Save the Children are determined that the perpetrators of these horrific crimes against children are held to account and are calling on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ensure the UN and its member states are doing all they can to make sure every crime against children is counted.
2. Save the Children is on the ground on Syria’s borders,
providing emotional support to thousands of children who have fled to
neighbouring countries, helping them recover from their experiences and rebuild
their lives. The agency has launched an appeal to help fund its work in the
region. You can donate here to make a real and immediate difference to these children.
3. If you are a blogger please, please consider writing a post to spread the word to increase pressure and funding. It might just be the post important post you will ever write. If you are not a blogger then please share this post on Facebook or Twitter (#savesyriaschildren).
It's time to help these children, because their own mothers and fathers aren't able to, and just imagine for a moment how that must feel.
It's time to help these children, because their own mothers and fathers aren't able to, and just imagine for a moment how that must feel.
