Although the Syrian boys Jawad and Yazan must be on the classroom, like thousands of other children in the war-torn region of Idlib in Syria, they are forced to work daily to earn a living for their family, but they do not work in normal work. The two, aged eight and 15, are digging graves in Idlib, which has the highest death rate in the world. “I help my father when someone asks to bury someone he cares for,” said Jawad, the youngest. We water the trees and flowers that our father asks us to water. '' "I am not afraid to work here because there are dead," Jawad said in an interview with Save the Children.
The boys work with their father, Ghassan (whose family name is not mentioned), in the cemetery, located on the outskirts of Idlib. About 500 people have been killed in the past two months by air strikes on the area, the last stronghold of the Syrian opposition.
Aerial bombardment has emptied many towns and villages from its inhabitants in this area, and many schools have been destroyed as a result of the fighting or used as shelters. Those schools, which are still open to students, can accommodate 300,000 of the 650,000 school-age children living in the area, according to charities.
Ghassan's family is among about a million people who have come from other parts of the country to Idlib. The family came from the Aleppo area and left for Idlib when Syrian government forces recovered Aleppo, where the family home was destroyed, and they now live in a rented house. Although the children are still young, they have witnessed many tragedies. The family lived under ISIS, albeit for a short time, but cannot forget what they lived in those days. “During that time we started seeing bodies hanging in public squares, some of them beheaded,” said Yazan, the eldest child. There were women who were killed by stones, men thrown from the roof of a building. That's how life was, it was an unforgettable disaster. '' "The cruelest thing we saw was the bodies lying on the ground, the faces of the innocent dead, and seeing a man who was dismembered and carried in several bags." "It was really the hardest thing we've seen."
The work was hard and tedious, earning little money from people visiting the tombs, but barely enough to support the family. "I don't play anything there," Yazan said. Just sit with my father, and if one came to visit the graves filled his water, I give him the help he wants for a little money. If no one comes or those who have helped them do not give us money, we ask them if they want to give us a tip. If we don't get such a tip, how can we live? ''
Ghassan wants to send his children to school, but he has six children to care for and provide for them. He cannot afford the clothes and other items they want. "Our situation cannot afford to send anyone to school or something," Ghassan said. If a child wants money to buy a book to write on, I will tell him that I don't have the money. "There are young children who need food and drink." Ghassan added: "It is shameful that these two children work in this sun.
• Ghassan's family is among about a million people who have come from other parts of the country to Idlib.
• The cruelest thing the children saw was the bodies lying on the ground, the faces of the innocent dead, and seeing a man who was dismembered and carried in several bags.