This page is dedicated to the Syrian people who have been displaced, over 13,000 of which have found themselves in the United States, according to CNS News. These people come from a war-torn country where the homes of innocent people are being bombed, children are being slaughtered, and those who once sought to live as normal of a life as possible are now struggling to survive.
These are people who once had dinners and laughed with family, wanted their children to grow up educated, and enjoyed listening to the music they love. Now, many of these people want nothing more than to feed their children. These are people who have been robbed by others promising them a safe way out. These are eight year old children who have had to be strong for their younger siblings in the midst of starvation. These are parents who have held their sick child in their arms, hoping and praying the sickness doesnt take them (David Platt). These are Syrian refugees, and they need our help.
Who Are They?
Because of this, it is becoming particularly important to understand the Syrian people. Before it became globally recognized as a war-torn country, Syria had a historical tradition of tolerance and pluralism. While recent conflict has stressed sectarian tensions, most Syrians remain very tolerant and respectful of both religious and ethnic diversity. Indeed, in light of recent fighting, many particularly oppose the aggravation of such divides. Furthermore, Syrians are often familiar with a diversity of cultural lifestyles.
The internet, media and pop culture have exposed people (especially the university populations) to the liberal values and behaviors of the West. It is common to see both veiled women and those wearing modern European fashions in city streets (Cultural Atlas).
What Was Syria Like?
Syria as a country is in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It is about the same size as Washington state with a population a little over three times as large – 22 million. Syria is very diverse, ethnically and religiously, but most Syrians are ethnic Arab and follow the Sunni branch of Islam. Civilization in Syria goes back thousands of years, but the country as it exists today is very young. Its borders were drawn by European colonial powers in the 1920s.
The refugee crisis is due to Syria being in the middle of an extremely violent civil war. Fighting between government forces and rebels has killed more 100,000 and created over 2 million refugees, many of them children (The Washington Post).
What Started All of This?
This civil war started in March of 2011 when peaceful protests erupted in Syria after 15 boys were detained and tortured for having written graffiti in support of the Arab Spring revolts. One of the boys, 13-year-old Hamza al-Khateeb , was killed after having been brutally tortured.
The Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded to the protests by killing hundreds of demonstrators and imprisoning many more. In July 2011, defectors from the military announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group aiming to overthrow the government, and Syria began to slide into civil war (Aljazeera).
How Are We Doing?
The modesty of the number of refugees caused by this war is incommensurate with the weight of the challenge posed by the some 5 million Syrian refugees, including roughly 1.1 million already in Europe. Measured against resettlement programs on behalf of refugees by Germany, France, Britain and other Western countries, to say nothing of those by Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, America’s own efforts are meager. Canada, with a population barely a tenth the size of the United States’, has resettled three times more Syrian refugees since last fall. Needless to say, as people of the United States, we can do much, much more. (The Washington Post).
