(ANS - Madrid) - " 'Before I opened my eyes in the hospital, I knew you'd be there.' These were the first words of a young man from the Salesian centre in Damascus to a Salesian who visited him as he lay injured in hospital. Millions of people need urgent help." So begins the press release issued by the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid, in an appeal on behalf of the people who are still living in Syria today after three years of war.

According to the Salesians, "Food, water, medicine and fuel are the things most needed. However, it is just as important to give hope and stay close to the people."

The people of Syria are living in sadness. They are stressed as a result of the violence and they lack motivation. "This is more evident in young people and children. They do not understand why they have to study or make an effort if a bomb is likely to fall on them tomorrow."

Next Saturday, 15 March, it will be 3 years from the start of the war in Syria. "Those three years have changed us. We are no longer the same," say the Salesian missionaries who remain in the country. There are eight of them divided between Aleppo, Damascus and Kafroun. They try to stay close to the civilian population. "They wanted us to believe that it was a war between good and evil. The reality is that on both sides there are good citizens, hard workers and honest people."

There have been many tragic stories from these three years: "Everyone has suffered some loss. Some of our young people were kidnapped. Many were left injured and homeless." The Salesian missionaries are currently helping over 200 families to survive each day. "We offer financial support or we help them find food. Then there are sixty other people who have taken refuge in our house in Kafroun practically since the beginning of hostilities."

The statement concludes with specific data on the war in Syria. According to the UN and other international organizations, the war has created more than two million refugees, left more than 200,000 people in a state of siege, five million children scarred by violence, ten million people in need of emergency aid and eight million people without adequate health care.

For this reason, the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid is calling for greater effort and commitment on the part of international agencies to put an end to this barbarism, and to build a lasting peace.
 

Published 14/03/2014