Because Syria is beautiful .. its refugee children dream of a country they do not know

A Syrian girl in a camp in the city of Qamishli, northeastern Syria.

(AFP)

"Muhammad" is five years old, Areej is a year older than him. As for Dalaa, she is ten years old.

These Syrian children refugees to Turkey inherited from their parents a longing for a homeland they do not know.

To escape the conflict that is ravaging Syria, these families sought refuge in Turkey, which has more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, including about 1.5 million children under the age of fifteen, according to official figures.

Muhammad and his parents, Maher Imad al-Din and Rawan Sameh, who were originally from Aleppo, are among the approximately 450,000 Syrian refugees living in the Turkish border province of Gaziantep, where Maher and Rawan were married.

The child says that one day he wants to "return" to Syria, although he was born in Turkey and never visited his country of origin. He said, "I want to go Syria because it is beautiful, and my father and mother tell me that."

His father works in a charitable foundation while his mother studies Arabic at Gaziantep University.

They live in a relatively affluent neighborhood, but they only think of one thing - one day returning to Syria.

Miserable apartment

Today's six-year-old's mother, Areej Baydoun, was pregnant with her when her father was killed in Aleppo.

Areej arrived in Gaziantep when she was four months old and lives with her grandparents, to her mother, uncles and their families (13 people in total), in a miserable apartment.

Her mother remarried.

When Areej says "mom and dad", she means her grandfather and grandmother who care for her.

Areej, with shrewd eyes and hair tied back with golden clips, speaks of Syria with eloquence that surprises everyone given her young age.

"There, war is everywhere, there are a lot of planes and bombs to blow up the city," she says.

"Here when I see a doll in the market, I ask my mom to buy it for me. But she says no, because we don't have the money," she continues.

She adds, "I want Syria to return to the way it was before, without bombs, so that I can return to it."

A dream of return

Ten-year-old Dalaa Hadidi lives with her family in the same slum.

The girl was born 45 days before the start of the Syrian protests, she was 15 months old when her family left Aleppo.

But she speaks as if she has lived there for so long.

"I want to return to Aleppo, to my home, my neighborhood, and the people I love," she says.

"I want to play"

While adults, in particular, convey the love of belonging to the homeland to the young, media directed to the Syrian diaspora also contribute to feeding this feeling.

Mahmoud Al-Wahab, 14, who is also a refugee, is presenting the program "I want to play" (I want to play) on the Syrian Radio Rozana, which has an office in Gaziantep and another in Paris.

He says in the radio studios: "We are trying to cultivate this belonging, but indirectly. We always have news about Syrian children inside Syria, information about Syria and the situation in Syria and how it was before (the conflict), and we even deal with the Arabic language so that they do not lose their mother tongue."

"We always try to pass this information on to them so that they know that they are still Syrians, even if they are in a second country," he added.

"There is no one who leaves his country and does not have a dream to return. This is related to how you were raised, where you grew up, and your memories. ... Even if we adapt as Syrians in the countries of asylum, the dream of return remains," said Radio Executive Director Lina Al-Shawaf.

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