This week, students from St Mary’s College in Ponsonby greeted Olympic Ambassador Sam Charlton with well-hugged teddy bears, orange-beaked puppets and wooden handled skipping ropes.
“This is my skipping rope I got when I was three. I love skipping,” says Lily, a Year 7 student. Sam’s face explodes in a wide grin as she shares her favourite memory from childhood.
“I was definitely a soft toy collector. They keep you company - you don’t want to leave them at home,” says Sam. But today isn’t only about sharing happy memories.
Sam and the students are stepping up to support Syrian children who have lived through a decade of war. Children who have lost their homes, their schools, their friends and been forced to leave their toys behind as the sounds of bullets echoed around them.
ReliefAid’s ‘BounceBack4Syria’ programme is delivering skipping ropes, hula hoops and soccer balls to children in Idlib so they can play and build resilience.
In Northwest Syria, ten-year-old Malak has been living in a small tent in a dusty displacement camp for several years. She quickly puts on a special dress and poses for the camera.
“I want to tell you that I love to play, but we have nothing here in the camp,” says Malak. Every day she makes up games with her friends using stones and rocks, longing for the toys she used to play with.
ReliefAid is the only New Zealand-founded organisation delivering aid in Syria – they’re experts at delivering life-saving supplies in conflict zones. Since December 2015, they have provided shelter and educational aid to over 210,000 people in crisis, including more than 142,000 at-risk children and 107,000 vulnerable girls and women, amongst other programmes.
For the first time ever, ReliefAid are now delivering toys to Syrian children with the support of generous New Zealanders, and Malak couldn’t wait to try out her bright green skipping rope.
“I liked this game very much and learned it quickly, it makes me jump in the air high,” says Malak.
Students from St Mary’s College are gathering donations to support the second delivery of toys and are urging Kiwis to help meet the $10,000 goal.
“If there are ways that you can help other children who aren’t as fortunate, then I think it’s important we do that. How can we spread that message around the world?” says Sam.
To support Relief Aid and build children’s resilience for a better future visit: www.reliefaid.org.nz
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