Slaughter - It is becoming normal to us...

It's hard to believe that the Syrian conflict has been going on for three years now. Saturday just gone marked the third anniversary and the situation there is as appalling as ever. I won't pretend to you that I know all the ins and outs of what is happening in Syria but the bits I do know horrify me and make me feel physically sick. Last night as I wrote this I read about the 140,000 deaths of Syrian people that happened before the United Nations stopped counting in January.  That really did break my heart; this is so out of control that they cannot even keep up with the amount of people dying as a result of all this.

How can it be that in this day and age a small group of local people can't take to the streets for a peaceful protest without the army opening fire on them and causing three years of heartache? As well as the 140,000 deaths there are over 2.5 million refugees who have had to flee Syria to the neighbouring countries.

Last night I sat and read an account about a Syrian lady called Safiyyah. She is 23 years old and the mother to a toddler. Before she fled Syria she was training to be a teacher. It therefore makes sense that she is working as a supervisor in a kindergarten for Syrian refugee children in Jordan. The kindergarten is run by a local charity in partnership with Tearfund. Safiyyah felt she had no choice but to leave Syria, not when there were tanks shooting at them in the street and she was regularly witnessing friends and family being attacked, mutilated and slaughtered. She is quoted as saying -‘It’s normal. It’s becoming normal to us.’ It makes no sense at all that slaughter can become so commonplace that is is thought of as normal.

Safiyyah explains how she is worried for her young son, that her extreme fear during pregnancy damaged him and has affected how he will grow up. Yet her love for her country remains strong and she wishes to return to Syria so he may grow up there. Of course the Syria she desires is the one she loved prior to March 2011 and the start of this barbarism.

Syrian children at a kindergarten in Jordan. As well as education they receive a snack to supplement their diet and sessions with a psychologist each week. 

The children who get to attend this kindergarten are some of the more lucky ones, many children have no school to attend and are lost right now, just trying to stay alive living on the streets with no parents and having watched atrocities that no person should be exposed to.

Safiyyah tells of a young boy of 5 and a half who approached her to tell her his mother had been killed. 

‘I asked him, “How did she die?”  

‘He said, “We were in our home in Syria my dad asked my mum to bring him a glass of water. And she said ‘its shelling I can’t go.’” ‘But he forced her to bring him some water to drink. She went to the kitchen and a rocket came and hit the kitchen. She screamed and the children all went to go to the kitchen, but he did not allow them. ‘When the shelling was calm, they went to the kitchen and all the rubble was on top of the mother. So they were all trying, fetching, how they can help. This boy, he got hold of something of his mum, he pulled, it was the head of his mum. ‘He told me that he hates his dad. He feels that he is responsible for killing his mum. He’s 5 ½.’

It really is heart-wrenching stuff. I've got two six-year-olds the worst they have ever had to contend with is a dead mouse. No child that young should be trying to pull their mother from bomb rubble and just discovering her head.

Tearfund are working hard with their partners to support as many people as they can in Syria. You can help too.

Please pray for the people of Syria, for the refugees, for those still in the country and most importantly pray for peace and resolution (for a miracle). There are some good prayer resources from Tearfund.

Of course, if you are able to give money then please do that too. £110 will buy a whole winter kit, giving a family four mattresses, warm clothes and blankets and a simple stove. Every penny you can offer will go towards something really worthwhile for those living in terrible circumstances. 

 ‘ON HIM WE HAVE SET OUR HOPE THAT HE WILL CONTINUE TO DELIVER US, AS YOU HELP US BY YOUR PRAYERS.’
 2 COR. 1:10-11

#SaveSyriasChildren - It's too important to ignore!

It would be so easy to be all wrapped up in my upcoming trip to Ethiopia. Yes it is amazingly exciting that I get to travel to a different country and to experience life there for a short while.  I hope to share stories, raise awareness for ONE.org and to do my bit but I can not just ignore what is going on in the rest of the world, that would all but defeat being involved with this type of activity.

For over a year now atrocities have been happening in Syria. there is so much in-fighting and needless killing that it breaks my heart. Children and adults alike are being killed and for no reason better than they got in the way or they happened to be there. It's true me and you alone can not really do anything to help the people in Syria, we can't bring back all those people who have been massacred but we can spread the word and we can pressure the 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 and their perpetrators held to account. By making it clear to the perpetrators that the world is watching – that they will be held to account for their crimes - we can help put massive pressure on them to stop.

Normally I write long posts but today I have nothing more to give than this.  I just need to present the simple facts as they are, I'll let these children who have fled Syria put their own case to you -



Please join me and help in one or all of the following ways -

1. in signing the Save the Children petition HERE
2. by donating any spare cash that you have, so that those on the ground in Lebanon and Jordan are able to carry on supporting all those children who are fleeing Syria.  They don't want new Wii's or iPod touch's like our kids are asking for this Christmas, they just need the basics of food and some blankets. Donate HERE.
3. spreading the word.  if you are a blogger, do what we do best and blog - spread the word!  if not talk to friends, send an email, share on Facebook, Twitter, Google + or anything else you use.  Just get the word out there.

From the bottom of my heart thank you, thank you just for reading this and then bless you if you are able to do something more.  Mich x

No Words #TippingPoint #Syria

I have spent much of this afternoon reading about Syria and the needless killings that went on last week, I am moved, horrified, tearful and generally feeling very helpless for the people that are being exposed to the unrest in their country.

I am appalled to find that humanitarian agencies, such as Save the Children cannot access the country to be able to try and help the people there. It is beyond belief that people, people like us (we are one people after all) are having to live terrified, that children are managing to survive massacres by covering themselves in blood and pretending to be dead and that mothers will live for the rest of their lives having watched their children be brutally murdered.  Our world is so broken and it breaks my heart.

I cannot find the words today to convey to you how I feel, everything I want to say has been said, so rather than repeat it all, I will keep this short and simple and point you towards some good posts that will make you want to act - Thinly Spread, Blog Up North, Kate Takes 5 to name but a few, you can see a full range of posts linked up at BritMums. It is also very worthwhile to read the Times article and look at the Q and A on the Guardian.

However, the thing that you should do above all others is sign the Save The Children petition, which is calling on world leaders to put in place an immediate and legally binding "Resolution to Protect Children" that carries the full force of international law on those attacking children and other civilians.

"We welcome the UN Security Council's unanimous statement condemning the attacks on civilians in Houla in Syria.

However, this statement does not go far enough: the Security Council must pass an immediate resolution setting out the concrete political measures that will bring about an end to the violence, and which will grant access for humanitarian agencies to reach the children injured and affected by the conflict.

The resolution must restate the rights of children to be protected from violence and make clear that all perpetrators of atrocities must be held to account for their crime"

Also raise awareness in any way that you can, talk to your neighbours, ring your mum, email your friends and use social media. The hashtags for twitter are #syria #tippingpoint and #stopthekillings

I urge you today friends, just do one thing.  Do not turn a blind eye, we all have a responsibility to stand together and to speak for those who have no voice.  Together we are a force to be reckoned with.

God bless, Mich x