The crisis of this hour

Most boys want to play with cars and guns.  If denied they will make their own.  Swords and the need to fight seem to be hard wired.  But the story behind this picture takes it a step further.  He had been asking his Mum for a land to air missile launcher, like the ones he had seen back home, and now at night he snuggles up next to it.  

I was on assignment in Lebanon during 2014.  My aim was to tell some of the stories behind the Syrian refugee crisis.  Lebanon had been the perfect choice for them, once a part of Syria the refugees could work without a permit.  But life is a daily struggle to survive.  Those out of the camps were renting one room in an unfinished apartment building for $200 a week.  Eight people in one room.  And three things, fear, trauma and the constant struggle to survive, had impacted everyone I met. 

Most adults would not show their faces because their one dream had been to return home, the fact that they had spoken to a journalist would put their life at risk.  They were not concerned for their children, they would change as they grew and no one would blame a child for having their photo taken. 

But for many thousands the hope of a peaceful return has changed in recent months.  The country is in ruins, drought has already disrupted agriculture and the only future seems to be a new start in another country.  Eleven million Syrian refugees and right now thousands are trying to escape.  The world needs to wake up.  I do not want to predict the future on the world’s stage, but this is the crisis of the hour.