Dispatch Syria’s Refugee Children Have Lost All Hope

Young Syrians living in Lebanon are attempting suicide in ever greater numbers.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — At a makeshift refugee camp just south of this northern city, a 12-year-old Syrian girl named Khowla sits on a dirty mattress in her tent. The roof is made of blue plastic tarp that does little to protect her from the intense sunlight. Though there hasn’t been rain in a few days, the concrete floor is damp and covered in a slimy film.

Khowla is strikingly beautiful, with delicate features, nut-brown skin, and large, dark eyes. She’s wearing her favorite dress, black with white stripes.

“When I tried to kill myself, it was like the devil filled my head,” she says, twisting her hands in her lap, her voice flat and expressionless. “I don’t remember much about it. All I could think about was that we have nothing, our lives will never improve, and I could relieve my mother of another burden.”

See more: https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/29/syrias-refugee-children-have-lost-all-hope/?utm_content=buffer1562e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer