Daily Dawn Staff Reporter + Dawn TV Report
London: At the P21 Gallery (London), kids came together for a press conference organised by Islamic Relief UK and WAW Creative Arts to reflect on Ramadan and children caught up in conflicts.
Children shared what they looked forward to the most in Ramadan and then read testimonies of children from Gaza, Sudan, and Syria on how they would be spending the holy month.
Heartbreaking stories were shared from Gaza of a child who felt only hunger and fear last Ramadan, a girl in Syria whose only hope was for her father to receive a prosthetic leg and a boy in Sudan whose dream was to return home to Khartoum, which he fled due to conflict.
Photographs of children in Gaza, who were tragically killed during the last 15 months of bombardment were also displayed. A moment of silence was observed to honor and remember them.
One of the children speaking at the conference, Yusuf, said of the photographs: “These were children with dreams, hopes, and excitement for Ramadan and Eid. They may have wanted to become doctors, artists, teachers, athletes, or journalists. But their futures were taken away. Now, all that remains are their memories.”
The scale of humanitarian crisis around the world is unimaginable, the people of Gaza have been suffering more than a year of bombardment, trauma, and hunger, with more than 18, 000 children killed since October 2023. Sudan has become the worst hunger crisis in the world with conflict displacing an estimated 14 million people, 53% of whom are children. Many are living in temporary camps where conditions are abysmal.
In Syria, many refugees, and internally displaced people (IDPs) are considering returning home, and thousands of people are now arriving from neighboring countries every day – but after almost 14 years of violence, many have little or nothing to return to.
Shazia Arshad, head of communications and creative content at Islamic Relief UK also spoke at the event and said: “We would like to thank WAW creative arts for helping to remind us of the harsh realities that children are facing around the world in places such as Sudan, Syria, and Gaza.
“And there are many more places around the world, where people are struggling and will have one of the toughest Ramadans.
“Islamic Relief will be very busy this year as we work to deliver aid and food packs to people across the world and due to the increasing cost of living crisis, here in the UK. ”
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