Syrian Girl Research Paper

According to UNICEF, 8.4 million children (more than 80 percent of Syria’s child population) have been affected by the conflict, either in Syria or as refugees in neighboring countries. While children around the world are getting ready for school and eating breakfast, children in Syria are holding tight to their families out of fear it will be the last time they see them. They fear for their lives that at any moment a bomb could drop and they could lose everything they hold dear to them. This is the reality for Syrian children today, they are forced to mature quickly because of what they are surrounded by. Many have grown up through wars, bloodshed, and saw their loved ones die right in front of their eyes. Their lives have become a living

nightmare, except they can’t wake up from it and go to their parents for comfort. Many are forced fend for themselves after losing their whole family. While we sit comfortably in our home with at least a roof over our heads, Syrian families both in and out of Syria are praying for just a moment of silence and to forget what has become of their homes and what they have lost.
I came across an article titled “Anne Frank today is a Syrian Girl”.

This had caught my attention right away as the article explained the similarities to the Holocaust and repetition of history. These children suffered at such a young age and were forced to leave their homes, the only place they knew and loved. And adjusting to a new pace is bad enough but to add losing family members and watching as their neighbors are quickly disappearing it becomes a very traumatizing experience that many can’t recover from fully. However, I know how it may have felt to have your life turned upside down. As well as the struggle to accepting that your life will never be the same

again.
For my entire life, I have known how it felt to move around from home to home and constantly be on the move. At first, I decided to not put in too much emotional attachment to where I was staying because I was never sure how long it would last. However, it became more and more difficult the longer we stayed at places and the more people I met and befriended. I never knew when my father would get a new job or was relocated for his current job. I have moved around 4 states and several homes within those states. I had to adjust to each home and environment and slowly lost my friends as I started my new life. I know how it feels to be unsure and afraid to call your current residence your “Home”. I was never sure how long it would last so I tried to stay away from getting too emotionally attached.
The hardest move I had was very recently when moving from New Jersey to California. I lived in New Jersey for over 10 years of my life after New York and Connecticut. Living in a house for 10 years and the same state for 14 years, New Jersey became all I knew. I never imagined leaving; I had great friends, I was doing well in school, and I was happy. When my father got news that he got a job in the Bay Area I was excited a first that I would be going to California “The Land of Dreams”(or so it is thought of in the East Coast).
However, I didn't realize what and who I was giving up to move 3,000 miles away. It hit me a month before we were going to move. It really had a toll on my physically and emotionally, my anxiety was telling me I wouldn’t survive life there, that my school would be hard, and my classmates wouldn’t be nice or I wouldn’t make any friends. I had made friendships in New Jersey that were as close as family. I loved my friends like family and couldn't imagine leaving. Overall this last transition was the hardest for me socially, emotionally, and even physically.
My last day in New Jersey is still the most vivid memory I have of the whole experience. I wake up 4 a.m. to catch the fight with my family, almost find it impossible to get dressed with my eyes flooded with tears. I could barely take a breath without crying, I could feel my heart exploding in my chest as we packed everything in the car. Rushing so we don’t miss the flight, and just as we are about to leave the driveway to the house. The house I was finally able to call my “Home” bright lights approach the front lawn. 6 or 7 cars parked in the street, all our friends and relatives came to see us. I break down and tell myself I am not leaving, I say to myself “not again, please not again”. My best friend and my non-biological sister dragged her mom to my house at 5am to say goodbye. I was tempted to grab her hand and run but I knew that wouldn’t change a thing and I was still moving.
Other than friends and relatives we were also leaving behind my older brother. He was staying to finish college and as he dropped us off at the airport. I clenched my fist so hard to hold back my tears I felt as if I would pierce my skin with my nails. My brother has always had my back we are 4 years apart so we were always there for each other when the other needed it. No matter what it was we protected each other. There was a point when I was walking away from the car where I burst into tears, “how could this be happening, why me, why us” . This experience I had is similar to that of Syrian refugees and even victims of the Holocaust. Being separated from your friends and family and the overflow of emotion that came with it.
Another similarity is how both me and some refugees may have feelings that we won't be accepted or we won't belong.

Forced to adjust and leave our old life behind, we had those tear jerking heart throbbing moments when being separated from our loved ones. I cannot begin to grasp the level of heartbreak, loss, and mourn they feel but with this experience, I am able to get a sense of the type of emotional pain they feel. Forced into a life and world they do not know, understand, and that they fear. The article (Anne Frank is today’s Syrian Girl) that connects Syrian refugees to victims of the Holocaust explains just that. It explains how the type of pain, loss, and fear was the same in both situations. Losing family and friends, being treated like trash and often looked at as dangerous and more. All experiences and feelings they both shared. I was able to relate to the pain and loss of separation of my family and friends. Being forced into a new life and starting from scratch. However, I can’t say I resent moving. I cannot say that moving did not give me another opportunity at life to start fresh, and I appreciate that. You may not know it at first, but when you feel everything is against you and you are going through a tough time. Make the most of that situation, don’t let these moments define who you are but define yourself through these

experiences.
The conflict in Syria is without a doubt an endless war of majority of lives lost being innocent, and families being displaced and forced to become refugees with nowhere to go. Yet, these attacks don’t stop or even change when the area targeted are hospitals and area of large populations of civilians. We need to all be standing together to try to help those who are in need and be there for them. If you were put in that situation wouldn’t you want people to offer you a hand? More than half of the pre-war population of 23 million people are in desperate need of refuge in and out of the country. Also, according to the New York Times, the death tolls in Syria have reached up to 470,000 and out of those deaths only 20,000 ISIS/Anti-government combatants have been killed.