Habiba's story
Read about Habiba, who from a young age had to carry a lot of responsibility but found a safe haven in Danmission’s child-friendly space.
To come at the centre makes me feel safe. It gives strength and confidence to face challenges. I have received a lot of help to overcome my weaknesses and to learn to fight for myself and my rights.
With support from
Denmark, Danmission responds to Syrian children’s psychosocial and nutritional
needs in order to help them rebuild the childhood they deserve after many years
of war. In cooperation with local partners, Danmission creates “child friendly
rooms”, where children that comes with different ethnic, cultural and religious
backgrounds, and who are either internally displaced or coming from local host
communities, have an opportunity to express their frustrations and engage in
educational activities. In addition, the children and their families receive
healthy meals, because some of them are not able to ensure their nutritional
needs.
In the city of Homaira,
Salam leads one of the child-friendly rooms. A group of volunteers provides
psychosocial and nutritional aid to 240 children from the age 7-18. Since Salam
began her work at the child-centre, she has seen a clear improvement in the
behaviour of the children.
Habiba is one of the
children that uses the centre. From a young age, she has been used to take a
lot of responsibility. Her father vanished 8 years ago and her mother had a
job, she feared she could lose. “I feel I have grown up too fast. I often fear
that my family will face the same problems and situation that forced us to move
out of our house, but I feel safe when I am with my mother, who does everything
she can to give us hope and safety together with her family” she explains and
continues, “at home, I am the one who takes care of my little sister,
especially when my mother is out working. During the summer, we harvest
apricots in the village and earn a little by that. It is my way to contribute,
so we can keep buying necessities.”
The child-centre gives
Habiba a well-needed break in her everyday life. “To participate in the centre
gives me safety and strength and confidence to face certain problems. I have
received a lot of help to overcome my weaknesses and to learn to fight for
myself, my rights, and my mother learns through me to be stronger, especially when
facing her family’s constant meddling with our life.”
I support the centre’s
leaders because they give me a sense of safety, and I feel good after our
conversations” says Habiba.
This article was
written by Danmission. The Foreign Ministry of Denmark is not responsible for
the contents of the article.