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A Syrian refugee family who had just arrived in Greece. https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/20/politics/paris-attack-refugee-visa-waiver/index.html
JM
Jane Minus

Mahmoud's Story

“Refugees are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, with the same hopes and ambitions as us—except that a twist of fate has bound their lives to a global refugee crisis on an unprecedented scale.”— Khaled Hosseini

The story of Mahmoud Bishara, and other families like his who fled Syria and got separated.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/who-is-sponsoring-syrian-refugee-families-in-waterloo-region-1.3272316

Did you know?

21% of 202 refugee children that were interviewed in Jordan and Lebanon said that at least on of their intermediate family members were dead, detained, or missing.

Mahmoud Bishara is a 12-year-old boy from Aleppo, Syria who lives in 2015 in the book Refugee. He has a mother, a father, a younger brother, and a baby sister. Mahmoud has lived his life trying to be invisible since the civil war started because in Syria that is how he can stay safe. Mahmoud's family made the decision to leave Syria after their building gets bombed, and because of the long-term dangerous and violent conditions in Syria. Mahmoud gets separated from a family member along the way and has to learn how to stay strong for his family. Mahmoud needs to learn how to get through the struggles of his treacherous journey to a better life, and that sometimes means making himself heard and no longer invisible.

This article will give you background on the Syrian civil war and uprising.

This is the world report about Syria for 2015, which is the year that Mahmoud lived in. This article describes the events of the previous year in Syria and is from the Human Rights Watch website.

This is an article about a Syrian refugee family who was finally reunited in Germany. This article is about a Syrian man named Omar who took the long, dangerous journey to Germany from Syria and waited in Germany until his family was finally able to join him. You will learn that just like Mahmoud, Omar used smugglers and had to wait days for them to call him and tell him that the raft had arrived, and both Mahmoud and Omar got separated from their family or family member.

In Syria, there was a tremendous amount violence in an uprising and a civil war that still continues on today. The uprising was pro-democracy and against Bashar al-Assad and eventually led to a civil war. There were many causes for this uprising, but one of these causes was environmental because from 2006 to 2010 Syria faced the worst drought in the country's modern history, which caused many to move into urban areas of Syria. It is hard to know when the uprising turned into a civil war, but the mostly peaceful protests changed into violence involving the military and armed clashes. Even though the UN, Arab League, and other countries have stepped in, the Syrian civil war is still going on and has forced so many to leave Syria and their home to become refugees.

This is a video of a Syrian family reunited on a beach in Lesbos, Greece, after more than a year of being apart.

This web page talks about fractured Syrian refugee families who have lost each other or have had family members pass away. This web page has stories of refugee children who have lost their families, but also includes a way to donate and support the UNHCR.

Even if Mahmoud's family wanted to go to the U.S., it would not have been easy. In 2015, the U.S. began to accept more Syrian refugees for resettlement than ever before. In 2016, the Obama Administration admitted 10,000 Syrians because of the refugee resettlement program. When entering the United States, refugees are resettled to states based on many factors including their age, health, family composition, and language. After the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015, 31 U.S. governors sent out statements opposing Syrian refugee resettlement in their states.

This is a story about a family of refugees who came to the U.S. This article interviews a Syrian family who originally wanted to go to Sweden but ended up going to the U.S. instead. You will learn that living in the U.S. is not easy for their family because people have a mindset that all Syrians are terrorists.

This web page is a chance to help Syrian children and refugees by donating to Save The Children.

The struggles facing Syrian refugee families are heartbreaking. The conditions in Syria are violent and dangerous because of the civil war, forcing many Syrians to flee the only home they have every known and take the treacherous journey to a better life. Too many families like the ones you have just read about have gotten separated, and some will never be reunited. Syrian families need your help, and you can do that by donating to organizations like the UNHCR and Save The Children, which are linked above. I hope that you are now aware of what is happening to Syrian families like Mahmoud's and that you will spread your awareness and/or choose to donate.

Bibliography:

“Fractured Families.” UNHCR. Accessed March 13, 2018. http://unhcr.org/FutureOfSyria/fractured-families.html.


“We need US companies to hire Syrian refugees.” CNBC. Accessed July 1, 2016. https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/01/we-need-us-companies-to-hire-syrian-refugees-state-department-official-commentary.html.


Zong, Jie, and Jeanne Batalova. “Syrian Refugees in the United States.” Migration Policy Institute. Last modified January 12, 2017. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/syrian-refugees-united-states.