The precious objects bringing comfort to Syrian refugees syria-refugees-objects-9.jpg

Sham*, 7 years, in Zaâ€™atari Refugee Camp holding a photo of her father. â€œThat photo was taken in Syria. Itâ€™s important to me because my father died and I loved him so much.â€ â€œHe used to tell me stories â€“ stories about Syria. I loved his stories so much.â€ â€œOne day he told me we were going to the camp in five days. He said the war is going to get bad so you have to go. He told me you will grow older and I need you to look after your mother.â€ â€œHe wouldnâ€™t come with us and he died in Syria.â€ Sham says that if she ever lost the photos of her father, she would never stop looking for them. To keep them safe, she hides them in a bag and then hides the bag in their caravan. She lives with her mother, two brothers and one sister in the camp. She goes to school and is in the second grade. â€œI like to go to school to learn. Science is my favourite subject. I study hard so I can practice on my own without using the books.â€ â€œIf my Dad was here now he would ask me â€˜what do you want to be when your grow upâ€™ and I would say â€˜I want to be an engineer just like youâ€™. He would be really proud of me.â€ *name changed to protect identity Makani (which translates as â€˜My Spaceâ€™) centres provide an integrated set of services to children in the camp, including learning support, community-based child protection, early childhood development, adolescent and youth participation, life skills and innovation labs. In Zaâ€™atari, there are 13 Makani centres serving over 7,000 children. Located in every district of the camp, vulnerable children, youth and communities have access to Makani, no matter where they live. Since January 2018, UNICEF has introduced a community-based approach to fulfil its vision of Makani centres to be self-sustained by Syrian staff, and for children and their families to become empowered to lead on the design and implementation of their own activities. This localization of the operation has reduced operating costs by 30 pe Â© UNICEF/UN0264950/Herwig

Unicef/Herwig