Friendship: Something to Remember
Despite fleeing and being forced to leave their homes and create new lives, children’s memories have not been left behind.
- Available in:
- English
- العربية
Ongoing conflict has taken its toll, affecting more than 61 million children across the region. They are forced into a system of change; uprooting the children, their surroundings and all that is familiar. They are the most vulnerable, losing out on vital aspects of their childhood, including friendship.
When we left our home in Iraq, I was sad. I used to love our home. Whenever I came home from school I would go into my room and play… My friends and I always played. We used to play outside and sometimes inside, and then go home
We used to go to school in Syria, play with our friends, then go home to do our homework. We used to take trips and have fun in the weekends. I used to go to amusement parks along with my friends, then return home to prepare ourselves to school next day. I was very happy
One of the things I remember from Syria is when we were on our way back from school early one day, because of a holiday, and It snowed. We stopped by the park to play with the snow.
No one of my old friends in Syria is left. No more than four or five friends are still in Syria, and here, it’s different. My friends in Syria were like brothers to me.
Despite having lost many of their friends, UNICEF and the European Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis are providing these children with a chance to make new friends and build new communities in schools and child-friendly spaces in which they support.
UNICEF produced “11, an album from children to children with support from the European Union and in partnership with Jad Rahbani a Lebanese composer. The album features 11 songs from children in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Download the Album 11 on www.unicef.org/mena/11Album
