Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 12 June 2018

Syrian orphans who fled Aleppo find new home

By SARAH EL DEEB day trip they go on is to the
MALAK HARB river banks.
Associated Press "They are city children," said
JARABLUS, Syria (AP) Hikmat Sheihan, one of the
— Nearly 50 children orphanage administrators.
orphaned by the Syrian war "In Aleppo, they had daily
escaped the hell that was visitors or events. Here,
their hometown of Aleppo there are no events and
after they appeared in few visitors. Those with them
a distressing video and in school are from different
appealed for their lives as environments."
government forces moved Three children who lost their
in under a hail of fire. mother — an orphanage
In the year and half since, worker— and their father in
the children and their the offensive are expected
instructors have been to be reunified with their
uprooted twice more: extended families in
once to escape similar Aleppo, for a short visit.
bombardment in another "When we left we came
rebel stronghold and again here because it's a safe
when they fled a town that area and there is no gunfire
has been overwhelmed by or shelling," said Asmar al-
people seeking shelter from Halabi, who founded the
Syria's war. orphanage in 2015. But
The orphanage first with the move, private
established in rebel-held donations also shrank as
eastern Aleppo, known world attention shifted
as the Center for the elsewhere.
Exceptional, has finally On a recent afternoon,
landed in a small house in the children gathered in
the sleepy northern town of Syrian orphans from Aleppo, attend a math class in the basement of an orphanage in Jarablus, excitement because of
Jarablus, which was once northern Syria, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. visitors — an Associated
a hub for Islamic State Associated Press Press team escorted by
militants along the border Turkish officials. Some of the
with Turkey but has been 11-year-old whose mother residents — including the enclave, until the deal was boys were attending math
governed by a Turkey- is missing and whose father children — underground. finally sealed. classes in the basement,
backed administration died of a heart condition One of the children was First, they went to another even though school is on
since 2016. in Aleppo. Qamuz said she wounded by shrapnel rebel-held town in the summer recess. Girls sat
More than six million people left her favorite yellow doll when he tried to come neighboring province of in a circle and giggled as
— nearly a quarter of Syria's behind in Aleppo. up from the basement Idlib. When that came they said they prefer the
pre-war population — have The fall of Aleppo came where they had huddled under attack, they were summer because it means
been displaced inside Syria after one of the most for weeks. During the moved north to the town they don't have to wake up
because of the war. For devastating battles of siege, the orphanage of Azaz. But soon that was early. In keeping with the
Aleppo's orphans, the war the civil war, now in its posted an online video in hit by a huge wave of holy month of Ramadan,
trauma and the loss of eighth year. Syria's largest which Qamuz, the little girl, displaced people, so they they read the Quran during
parents were compounded city was for years divided pleaded for an exit route. had to leave again. the day and slept early
by the recurrent uprooting between rebel- and Soon after, permission Jarablus, a border town to wake up for the dawn
from the only familiar place government-controlled came for their evacuation. with just over 10,000 meal. Many said they were
they knew. areas. After four years of There was a hitch as last- residents before the war, fasting.
"It was better back home. rebel rule, the government minute negotiations over saw its population almost Al-Halabi, who the children
We had our toys and our recaptured eastern their destination delayed quadruple after the IS refer to as Baba, or Dad,
home. We had a court to Aleppo in December 2016 their departure. The retreat as newly displaced said the children still
play in and we had a toys after a months-long military children were encircled Syrians moved in. reminisce about Aleppo.
room, a looms area, and offensive backed by Russia. by gunmen for 22 hours in Still, it remains a small town. "All the kids' memories are
a hall for learning singing," The bombardment of the buses meant to take There are few places for of Aleppo," he said. "We
said Yasmine Qamuz, an eastern Aleppo drove them out of the crumbling the children to go. The only wish we could go back."q