Boys at a camp for displaced Syrians. Via Flickr

The Story Continues

A normal life, at least for a few hours. This is what Abdel wants, when he asks his mother if he can go to school like the other children in the refugee camp.
Alessandra Stoppa

Syria
A Normal Life

A normal life, at least for a few hours. This is what Abdel wants, when he asks his mother if he can go to school like the other children in the refugee camp. It won’t be easy, because he will have to learn at least a bit of French to attend a Lebanese school, but at least in class he will forget for a few hours the oppression of having been forced to abandon his home in Syria. In situations like this, a notebook, some pencils, and an eraser can mean a great deal. The days in the refugee camp of Marjel Kokh are not simple, with the mud, the ragged clothes hung out to dry. But for Kahled, whose father does not want to send him to school, it would mean the chance to learn the alphabet and to sing together with other children, because even in the midst of tents, children can be children, if someone could manage to create an open-air classroom, find a blackboard, and treat them like children.

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