This video shows three young children who are Syrian refugees. Their lives are drastically different than American children, but watching the video revealed that some traits of childhood remain the same.
Children are able to have a combination of hope, innocence, and resilience that was displayed throughout the different interviews. One that particularly stood out was when Israa said, “here I’m happy, I don’t hear the sound of bullets or shells, but I don’t have any toys.” These children have seen death and war since they were born, yet they still have the ability to prioritize toys, just like an American child in suburbia might. Despite the fact that Mustafa lost his parents and was partially paralyzed from a barrel bomb, he still is excited to go to school and builds Legos. Children have an adaptability that is often hard for adults to maintain.
The video also highlights that children are very receptive and know what is going on around them. Rouaa says that when she thinks of Syria she thinks of people dying and war. It was startling to hear 5-year-olds use words like “siege” and talk about bombings. It’s something that we often try to shelter children from, because we don’t know if they are old enough to understand it. This video shows that children are often more mature/intelligent that we give them credit for.
The interviews were put together by BBC News, and is a segment on its YouTube channel.
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