World News for Students of English

16-03-2016 07:00

Samir Duwoot says she cries every day because her children don’t have a father. It’s the reality of the five-year conflict in Syria. People, families left with nothing. Her daughter knows no different. Like many children here, her young eyes have seen much of the brutality of conflict, but have never seen home.

Her dad, Shahadi Nanood, died last year while fighting for the regime. She doesn’t understand where he’s gone, with her mother saying she sleeps in the same place her father used to sleep, she’s waiting for him to come home.

The rest of their family have fled to Lebanon. For those in poverty like them, there’s no option but to stay.

They now live in this school near Damascus, which 141 people now call home. A building serving a dual purpose. But it’s estimated that across Syria, up to 2 million children no longer go to school, a further million no longer live in their own homes and 6 million need emergency humanitarian assistance.

“It’s been the most dangerous place in the world for children. 5 years is a lifetime for a child! This war has been going on for five years! There are 10 year olds in Syria who’ve never seen the inside of a classroom.”

Generations, opportunities changed forever by this conflict and in the balance if the ceasefire doesn’t hold.

Difficult words: conflict (fighting), brutality (violence), regime (a group that supports a leader), poverty (the situation of being poor), dual (two-part), estimate (to guess carefully), humanitarian (helping people), generation (a group of people born through a period of about 20 years of time), ceasefire (when people agree not to fight during a war).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com