5.5 million children have been affected by the country’s three-year war. [1]
On the anniversary of Syria’s civil unrest, NBC in conjunction with major relief organizations broadcast a 48 hour “live documentary” to help bring awareness to the plight of Syrian refugee children. They called it a “comprehensive portrait of the war’s devastating toll.”
Unsettling reports came to light, such as UNICEF calling Syria, “one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a child.”
Our family knows firsthand how dangerous life can be in the Middle East. 
My wife, Hazel, shares in her recent book …And I Sat There some of the experiences of life in the Middle East during times of war and crisis. Perhaps that is why our hearts go out with so much feeling and compassion for the children of Syria, who right now, are going through the horrors of civil war, displacement, and all that is a part of being refugees from their home country.
The U.N. estimates that at least 10,000 children have been killed in the Syrian war, with the actual number probably higher than that. [2]
More than 50% of Syrian refugees are under the age of 18 [3]
As Syria enters its fourth year of conflict, the global focus on this long drawn-out crisis and its fallout is waning. “It’s not just a humanitarian issue, a need to feed people,” Dr. Fouad M. Fouad, a Syrian doctor who studies the impact of the conflict, told a conference at the American University of Beirut last week. “It’s a historical, geopolitical issue.”[4] It’s easier to send money or food, it’s much harder and more complicated to deal with heart, historical/cultural, and post-traumatic psychological issues even well after the crisis has passed.
We know how the heart of God reaches out to these children, and He has called and appointed His Church to be His hands extended. In a forthcoming blog, I want to show how the Church is standing in the gap, and how the Church can utilize this moment of tragedy to help turn what Satan means for evil into incredible blessing for individuals and the Kingdom.
For further reading:
- Top 10 youth dense countries we work in
- Plight of the Muslim: the cost to choosing Christ
- Christian theology of children from a former child abuse prosecutor
[1]http://time.com/19293/unicef-syria-children-report/
[2]http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/10/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBREA291TC20140310)
[3]Children in Crisis: A Qualitative Assessment of the Syrian Refugee Experience Among Children & Youth
[4]http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/world/middleeast/three-years-of-strife-and-cruelty-put-syria-in-tailspin.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0