Syria – Isolated and drained, yet tenaciously at the side of the youth

12 August 2016

(ANS – Aleppo) – Leaving for an educational camp with the oratory – one of the few moments of light-heartedness for minors in Aleppo – and not being able any more to return home because in the meantime your city is once again besieged and is the scene of bloody clashes: the situation of some children and youth who were accompanied by the Salesians to the house of Kafroun, in the north of the country, is almost surreal, if it were not tragically true. For several days now they are trapped in Kafroun, while their families have to face the fear of bombs and missiles, power and water cuts and skyrocketing prices.

“We, Fr. Buratti, the children of the educational summer camp and myself, are in Kafroun, about 40 km from the Lebanese border. Unfortunately we are stuck here: we were supposed to return on Tuesday 9, but we cannot, because Aleppo is for the nth time a besieged city,” Fr. Pier Jabloyan, SDB, recounts.

Yet, even in this situation Fr. Jabloyan manages to find reasons for hope and gratitude: “In this situation I see how beautiful it is to be a family concerned with the needs of others and to share not only our joy, but also our sufferings and pains: for instance, after our group, there should have been the summer camp of the Salesians of Damascus, but they decided to postpone the date because now we need the house. We hope to be able to return to our city as soon as possible”.

The major concern now is exactly for the families that remained in Aleppo, the besieged city, “whre prices increase very much, and where we lack the minimum of public services, water, electricity, gasoline, gas, bread, vegetables...” Fr. Jabloyan added.

The Salesian oratory in Aleppo, under the guidance of Georges Fattal, SDB, continues its service, but the situation in the city remains distressing: the frail positive signs, like the three-hour daily ceasefire to distribute water and humanitarian aids to the population, are nullified by the sad news of new attacks with chlorine-filled barrel bombs.

InfoANS

ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication, the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007.

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