For Syria’s children, clowns know laughing matters

[Sally]

What a great group this is to help these unfortunate children forget their suffering for a while.

For Syria’s children, clowns know laughing matters

With resources stretched, aid groups struggle to provide more than bare necessities; that’s where Clowns Without Borders comes in

BY SAM KIMBALL June 20, 2014

Lebanon (AP) — The Syrian children sat in guarded silence as the clowns tumbled out in a blur of colorful polka dots and suspenders, then burst into laughter as one of the performers kicked her glittery high heels into the air to the toots of a blue trombone.

One of the clowns strummed a guitar while gliding around on stilts. Another, his face painted like a sad mime, juggled three white globes in the air in a show set against the backdrop of a makeshift tent camp in Lebanon.

For the 50 or so children in attendance, all of them refugees from the civil war in neighboring Syria, the clowns provided a brief escape from the horrors they’ve seen and the challenges of growing up far from home. They are among the more than 1 million Syrians who have flooded into Lebanon over the past three years, fleeing a war that has ripped apart their homeland.

Read more:

For Syria's children, clowns know laughing matters | The Times of Israel

 

[aris2chat]

and those children are being trained and manipulated to become fighters

Syria rebel groups recruit child soldiers, says rights watchdog
cnn.com/2014/06/23/world/meast/hrw-child-soldiers/index.html
Syria rebel groups recruit child soldiers, says rights watchdog

By Deborah E. Bloom, CNN

updated 7:41 AM EDT, Mon June 23, 2014

(CNN) -- At the start of Syria's civil unrest, Omar would rally against the government alongside his schoolmates, later taking to the streets in his hometown of Salqin.

Two years later, at the age of 14, he became a child soldier, training to join the ranks of rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra. He learned how to use weapons, make bombs and use mines. But when it came to fighting on the front line, he was scared.

"Then our sheikh came to encourage us to go fight and gave us speeches about jihad," Omar told Human Rights Watch. "So after two days, I went to front line."

Omar is just one of many boys being used on the battlefield in Syria's civil war, according to an HRW report released Monday. Many are forced to fight in battle. Others must act as snipers, man checkpoints, spy on opposing forces or carry out other, equally dangerous tasks.

Amr, 17, told Human Rights Watch that he first joined the Daoud Brigade, an Islamist rebel group, when he was 15. He later agreed to sign up for a suicide attack mission, feeling socially pressured to sign the volunteer list. Other children had also signed on, he said.

With Syria entering its fourth year of civil war, grim accounts of child soldiers being used on the battlefield are now emerging. Though the specific number of child fighters in Syria is unknown, the Violations Documenting Center, a Syrian monitoring group, has documented 194 deaths of "non-civilian" male children since 2011.

 

[Bleipriester]

I don´t know if that´s the right thing. They already saw lots of explosive clowns shuffling through their country.

I would prefer to give them food, aid and shelter.