Children of my city / Children of Syria!

1

---

Syria and my city

When I was commuting to my work on a train yesterday, I noticed two kids talking to a local on the train. Their clothes were really different from the ones that other people had. When I saw them looking down at their feet with sad facial expressions, I could easily understand that they are the kids of Syria who had to move from Syria to Izmir, which is the their biggest city in Turkey. It is a really popular among Syrians refugees as it is crossing point to Greece.

This is not the first time I see those kids sitting on seats of the train or begging for money from locals. To be honest, I see this every day as I have to commute to work by train every single day. I felt so sad yesterday as I couldn't do much to change their lives, but I remembered how wars destroy the lives of people who are living in those countries. Those kids who were just 7 or 8 don't know what the war means in words, but they had to experience it in real when they were in their country a few months ago.

---

2

---

Children

Children are the biggest group of people who have seen the hardest destruction in Syrian civil war. They have got many problems and they have to face with many difficulties in different parts of Turkey. Some Syrian refugees managed to find a way to go to some European countries, but many of them are staying in our country now. The life in Turkey is better than they had in Syria in war time, but they surely miss those times when they could play their games in their home country.

As their economical conditions are not so good, many Syrian children have to beg for money in the streets of Izmir and try to see some tissues. They are usually on trains or by the sea as there are many people in those areas. I face with many of them every day and I can see the affect of the war on their faces. It is impossible not to feel sad for them, there are many organizations trying to help them, but of course it is hard to create good conditions for over 3 million refugees.

---

3

---

Education

One of the most crucial things about these children is their education. As nobody wants them to be lost generation, they must be educated in the best ways possible. As the number of refugee children in Turkey is really high, it is again not easy to provide all of them the best education opportunities. There are some public schools where some of these children are educated and at the same time, there national and international helping organizations where some volunteers educate children.

Language is a big barrier for them, so they have to get over it as the first must-do thing. Since Turkish and Arabic are not close languages, they have to learn the new alphabet and grammatical rules. As they are children, it is not that much hard, but it will surely change the way of their living in the future. Turkey will be probably their home country as they are getting used to life in Turkey day by day. That's why, I call them as the children of my city, Izmir.

---

4

---

Izmir

The photo above is from Izmir where I live. Another major problem about children is that they are not used to life style in Turkey. Even though we are neighbor countries, people are not similar to each other in relation to culture, education and morals. These children don't have much social life, they are just wandering around without doing anything valuable for their self improvement. As far as I can see, they are not integrated into society as they don't see as part of this country.

There are voluntary organizations which have Turkish and international volunteers. They are quite active in Greece and Turkey, trying to help these children by organizing some cultural activities to bring them together with locals and give them the feeling of integration. As they are in need of help, all countries must do their best to help these children and their families, because they don't have the option to go back to their countries at the moment.

---

5

---

Volunteers

The photo you see above is from a project which is organized by a group of volunteers in Istanbul. One of my friends is involved in this project actively, there are people from countries like France or Germany. They have been living in Istanbul and organizing activities to help these children feel better in Turkey.

It is very nice to see some people coming to Turkey just to help those people who are in need of them. As some of you may already know, this situation is called as Refugee crisis in European countries and Turkey. If we want to get over this situation, we must face with it and help these people by keeping the communication tools between countries open. It is a global crisis, so we must work hard together.

---

6

---

Help

I would like to learn your opinion and recommendations about educating these children and creating them a better environment in all countries since they are located in many countries at the moment. It would be nice to brainstorm some ideas here on our growing platform. I wish a pleasant day for all Steemians, Steem on!

---