By Open Doors USA
SANTA ANA, Calif. — “It’s scary. We hear a lot of bad stories about what is happening around us. On the streets there are soldiers everywhere. We see smoke from fighting and hear bombings all the time.”
Those are the words of Youmna *, 13, a Christian girl who lives in Damascus, Syria, with her sister Nashita*, 10.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, approximately 100,000 people have been killed in the civil war between government forces and rebels. The death total includes 5,000 children under the age of 16. The conflict began on March 2011.
“One day I was going to school by bus when we heard a shooting nearby,” says Youmna. “So we all dived down, hiding under our seats, waiting until the shooting was over. Another day when we were at school there was an airplane very close by, threatening to bomb our school. We all had to go into the basement and stay away from the glass.”
Nashita adds: “My classmates and I were all very scared. Kids around me were crying and shouting at the teachers because they were so afraid. Some called their fathers crying to them that they wanted to go home.”
Nashita says almost all her friends have left Syria. “My best friend Lunah* went to Egypt. I miss her so much. We talk on the phone, but it’s not the same.”
Read more at http://www.religiontoday.com/blog/syrian-christian-girls-describe-daily-life-fear-violence.html