SYRIA - JARAMANA – July 1 2018

Jaramana public park rehabilitation

SOS Children’s Villages Drop-in Centre did a community initiative to rehabilitate a public park in Jaramana.

SOS Children’s Villages Drop-in Centre, funded by UNICEF, organized a community initiative as part of its Life Skills service, implemented by its young beneficiaries. The Life Skills is part of Child-Protection service, which includes encouraging local and Internally Displaced adolescents to participate in social initiatives, with the aim of developing their team skills and enhancing the integration between the local community and the displaced individuals. Life Skills service provides a targeted number of adolescents with social initiative training through workshops and awareness sessions. At the end of each workshop, each group of participants arrange a social initiative in cooperation with, and under the guidance and assistance of SOS Children’s Villages Drop-in Centre team.

On July 1, an old forsaken public park was inaugurated. This opening was the culmination of a social initiative through which a group of youth worked on rehabilitating the park, painting its desks and playground tools, and cleaning it from old ruins and garbage.


They cleaned the park so much! Now it’s nice and lovely! I will ask mom if I can come here every day in Summer! Not only I will be playing here, but all of my friends too.

Hala
Eight-year-old child

The event started with a group of children singing to welcome the guests who included the President of SOS Children’s Villages Syria, a representative of UNICEF office in Damascus, and the Mayor of Jaramana, in addition to SOS Children’s Villages teams. The centre’s children presented their handicrafts and performed a theatrical show that talks about the importance of education for each child, even during the worst times of war and misery.

“The adolescents and youth who worked on this initiative are mostly from farm-environments. This is why they were so excited about planting the park. We are now preparing for this process. We also are intending to accommodate the park with sun-screening sheets to provide more shade for children during their fun time here.” Says Rahhal Alem, a Case Manager in the centre.

It was a horrible siege that my brothers and I went through! We miss wide and safe playgrounds so bad!”. This is what little Rami said when he was asked about what he missed the most during war.