Life in Syria : A Child’s Perspective

Hana is one of the 72* children that consider the SOS Village in Qadsaya, (on the outskirts of Damascus), home.  She describes life in war-torn Syria, from the perspective of a 7-year old SOS Child.

1. What is your favorite thing to do in your spare time?
   “When there is electricity I watch TV and when there isn't electricity I draw. Drawing takes me to another world.”
    
2. Who do you live with?
   “I live with my SOS mother and I have 9 sisters and brothers in the village whom I love very much”
    
3. What does it look where you live?
   “If people want to imagine our village I will ask them to close their eyes and think about 16 houses full of children like me. These are all my brothers and sisters, in the middle there are the basketball playground and swings area where we go out and play and I love the photos we take there. A few weeks ago we moved to another house in the village. I felt angry at the beginning, but now I think that I am getting used to the new house and I am not angry anymore because I have a village and all the houses here belong to all of us.”
    
4. What is the best thing about your country:
   “I always hear that Syria was a beautiful country before the war, it’s still beautiful, especially with the Uptown amusement park where there are roller-coasters and a big swing that looks like a ship. I only wish that Syria wasn’t so hot in the summer specially when there is no electricity. It makes me feel that I am inside an oven.”
    
5. What are the things you try to do at home to help your SOS mother and brothers \sisters?
   “I like to help my mom by wiping the dust from surfaces and mopping the floor because I like to walk barefoot in the house especially in the summer. Also Sarah, my sister and I like to help my little brother Eli with his homework, because he still doesn’t know how to study alone ,but sometimes he makes us crazy because he wants to play all the time.”
   
    

6. 7-year-old Hana wants to be a painter when she grows up, so that she can decorate her house with all of her artwork.

   Who is your best friend, how did you meet and what do you do together?
   “Her name is Suzy, she is my best friend in the village and kinder garden. I like to go to her house because there are two lovely cats there and they don’t bite us because we always bring them food and play with them. Suzy’s interests are similar to mine but she is not talkative like me.”
    
7. What do you do in your spare time?
   “I like to spend my spare time drawing and coloring especially when I have new crayons. Sometimes I like to watch my sister Reena or my brother Michael while they draw to learn and to help them in coloring. It is very cool because when my mom likes the drawings, I can immediately say “that is because I helped them” and then we can hang them on the walls of our house so our visitors can see them. Drawing is my favorite thing to do because it makes me feel relaxed when I do it and then it makes me proud of myself and my brothers and sisters when people compliment them.”
    
8. What do you want to become when you grow up?
   “I want to be a painter and I won’t sell my paintings to anybody because I want to hang them all on our walls.”
    
9. What is your biggest dream?
   “My dream is to visit Disney land one day, it is like heaven to me. I can’t imagine something on Earth that is more beautiful than Disney land.”

Help Now

SOS Children's Villages continues to help Syrian children and families inside and outside of Syria.  To support our ongoing work, please consider making a monthly donation or make a one-time donation to our SOS Mayday emergency fund.  

*Number of children recorded as of January 2016.