Published : 12-01-2020
Palestinian refugees in Syria have to walk past the debris of war everyday to reach their schools in nearby suburbs, enduring a scary journey that never ceases to remind them of the weight of displacement, hardship and the loss of loved ones.
Citing the examples of seventh-graders Sondous and Zahra’a, from Yarmouk refugee camp, UNRWA said students walk past devastated buildings, black and grey, with rooftops that are bent over, kissing the ground.
The two girls are among thousands of Palestine refugee children in Syria who bear the scars of the Syrian war. Although cautious calm has replaced active war in Yarmouk, they feel unsafe when they leave the school in the afternoon, especially in winter when it gets dark early.
“Walking from the school in Yalda to our homes in Yarmouk in the evening is scary, but what choice do we have? To reach our homes, we have to walk past destroyed and empty buildings in the camp. It looks like a ghost town and feels haunted,” 14-year-old Zahra’a told UNRWA.
For Sondous, the devastation has become a nightmare that haunts her night and day. “It’s etched into my brain,” she said. “I dream of it. I can’t get over it. When we returned to our house in the camp last year, I was overwhelmed with so many different feelings. My heart beat faster as we approached our home.”
“I was so happy to be back, to return to where I had spent my early childhood. I thought about my father and how he would no longer have to pay for our rented apartment. But the sight of the destruction stopped me in my tracks, I thought of all those whose houses were now that rubble I saw before me. Inside our house, all my toys were burnt except a small orange plastic fish,” she adds.
Before the crisis started in 2011, Yarmouk was a bustling home to almost 30 percent of the Palestine refugee population in Syria. Today, the weight of displacement, hardship and the loss of loved ones add to the difficult living conditions in Yarmouk.
As a result of hostilities, in 2013, UNRWA moved the al-Faloujeh school from Yarmouk to the neighboring suburb of Yalda. Throughout the devastating years of the conflict, students remaining in Yarmouk would take the perilous journey to their school in Yalda in order to continue their education.
Palestinian refugees in Syria have to walk past the debris of war everyday to reach their schools in nearby suburbs, enduring a scary journey that never ceases to remind them of the weight of displacement, hardship and the loss of loved ones.
Citing the examples of seventh-graders Sondous and Zahra’a, from Yarmouk refugee camp, UNRWA said students walk past devastated buildings, black and grey, with rooftops that are bent over, kissing the ground.
The two girls are among thousands of Palestine refugee children in Syria who bear the scars of the Syrian war. Although cautious calm has replaced active war in Yarmouk, they feel unsafe when they leave the school in the afternoon, especially in winter when it gets dark early.
“Walking from the school in Yalda to our homes in Yarmouk in the evening is scary, but what choice do we have? To reach our homes, we have to walk past destroyed and empty buildings in the camp. It looks like a ghost town and feels haunted,” 14-year-old Zahra’a told UNRWA.
For Sondous, the devastation has become a nightmare that haunts her night and day. “It’s etched into my brain,” she said. “I dream of it. I can’t get over it. When we returned to our house in the camp last year, I was overwhelmed with so many different feelings. My heart beat faster as we approached our home.”
“I was so happy to be back, to return to where I had spent my early childhood. I thought about my father and how he would no longer have to pay for our rented apartment. But the sight of the destruction stopped me in my tracks, I thought of all those whose houses were now that rubble I saw before me. Inside our house, all my toys were burnt except a small orange plastic fish,” she adds.
Before the crisis started in 2011, Yarmouk was a bustling home to almost 30 percent of the Palestine refugee population in Syria. Today, the weight of displacement, hardship and the loss of loved ones add to the difficult living conditions in Yarmouk.
As a result of hostilities, in 2013, UNRWA moved the al-Faloujeh school from Yarmouk to the neighboring suburb of Yalda. Throughout the devastating years of the conflict, students remaining in Yarmouk would take the perilous journey to their school in Yalda in order to continue their education.
