This article was contributed in support of the World Food Programme.
Today, we face an uncertain future where there are no guarantees about our next meal, where we are going to sleep, or how we are going to survive.
The millions of Syrians who have been engulfed by this crisis are not asking for much. We want to know where our next meal is coming from and where we are going to sleep at night.
As we look to the future, we want to know if we will have a chance to find a job, provide a safe place to live for our children and maybe even have the opportunity to return to the homes and lives we have been forced to leave behind. As we pass the 5th anniversary of the start of this crisis, Syrians need to know that the world still cares.
The World Food Programme is feeding around 4 million people every month inside Syria and providing food assistance to close to 1.5 million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries. Every day, we hear their stories and over the next 6 months, we will be sharing these stories as part of our #IamSyrian campaign.
We want you to support #IamSyrian by helping us to share these stories on social media and getting involved with the activations that we will be launching each month for the next 6 months in the build up to the UN General Assembly in September. Anyone and any organisation can take part.
Help us to make this a global movement by sharing our stories.
MOHAMMED
My name is Mohammed. I am from Aleppo, but now I live in Gaziantep, Turkey, with my children - my wife of fifteen years left me to go to Germany. She couldn't handle the situation anymore.
She wanted to have a fridge but I couldn't afford one. I told her “be patient.” She just couldn’t, so she left. People think the heart of a father is tougher than a mother’s but mine isn’t.
I can never leave my children, I live for my children. They are my life.
“In Syria… I would spend my free time with my family, going to the fun-fair, having picnics by the Euphrates River…”
Now I must work 12 hours a day, but whenever I come back home and see my children I forget all the troubles. My oldest daughter works as a tailor but she may have to quit to take care of her younger brother and sisters.
With help from the United Nations and the Turkish government I can buy food. It’s helped us a lot. Now I don’t have to worry and can afford to buy the fridge that my wife always wanted.
#IamSyrian
Yours sincerely,
Mohammed
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP ON THE 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE START OF THE WAR IN SYRIA?
On this date WFP is teaming up with Crisis Action and others to support a global push to share images on social media of people making a dove symbol with their hands and the words #withsyria.
WFP will be incorporating this into its own #IamSyrian campaign on the 5th anniversary using images of celebrity supporters and Syrian refugees.
Please share this story and join the campaign by posting a picture of yourself making the dove symbol on Facebook or Twitter using the Hashtag #IamSyrian
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of each of the partners of Global Citizen.