How does war impact people? Sarah talks with Syrian journalist Hozan Ibrahim who she met while covering the war in Syria, a country that has been fighting for over a decade.
How does war impact people? Sarah talks with Syrian journalist Hozan Ibrahim who she met while covering the war in Syria, a country that has been fighting for over a decade.
Sources Consulted:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (n.d.). Figures at a glance. UNHCR. Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html
Wheat. OEC. (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2022, from https://oec.world/en/profile/hs/wheat
* If you have a question about war, or if there’s something else going on in the world that you want us to break down, write to us or record a message and email us at listen@akidsco.com.
Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever podcasts are found and check out other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
Sarah Jones Breaks It Down: A Kids News Podcast
S1 EP03, War Part 2: It Impacts People
[INTRODUCTION]
Sarah: This is Sarah Jones Breaks It Down.
I’m Sarah, and I’m here to help us better understand what’s happening in the world.
Why?
Because, as a journalist, that’s my job.
And this world isn’t just filled with adults…
Kid: Nope!
Sarah: It’s our world.
So, every week we’ll talk about the stories that you may overhear some adults talking about like war, or elections and we’ll…
Group of Kids: Break it down.
Sarah: And we’ll break it down.
[TOPLINE]
Sarah: War. Let's get into it. Last time we explained what was happening between Ukraine and Russia and why.
And we discussed what war is in general and that it usually is a fight about power. We also discussed how it impacts people, not just soldiers, but everyday people.
Like my friend Hozan Ibrahim. He's a journalist like me and he's from Syria.
Hozan: Before the conflict began in Syria, the life was somehow stable, but there were also many economic challenges that people were facing on daily basis.
Sarah: Before the war, Syria was a country that a lot of people would go to for medical treatment because it had some of the best hospitals in the middle east. They a lso have amazing art, history and really good food, but no place is perfect.
Hozan: Before the war, many Syrians were complaining about high unemployment, corruption and lack of political.
Sarah: So some people decided to protest hoping the government might hear them and change some things.
Hozan: In 2011, people started peacefully protesting against the government, demanding more freedom and democracy. The government forces use deadly force to stop the protests in return. Also many protesters took their arms and started fighting the government forces. And at that moment, we realized that our country is going to a deadly civil war. Wars affect everyone.
Sarah: …and wars, they change everything.
(silence)
Hozan: When the war started in Syria houses, schools, and even hospitals were being bombed. The scene of destruction that we saw, it was horrible.
(sounds of war)
Many people were dying because they had no access to food or medical care centers. I left my country after the crisis turned into an armed conflict and civilians were trying to get it with all kinds of heavy.
Sarah: Hozan and I met in Turkey several years ago. We were both working there as journalists. Turkey is just one of the countries that border Syria.
Hozan: You are on the other side of the border. It's only few hundred of meters that were away from your country, but you cannot visit it because it's still not safe for you. I think it's difficult to forget the place where you were born and spent your childhood. We always have hope that one day our country will be safe again.
Sarah: Syria has been at war since 2011.
More than 350,000 people have died. Over 27,000 of them were children.
(silence)
Because of the violence and ugliness of war, people have to flee. You may have heard the word refugee, it comes from the word refuge or safety.
A refugee is defined as “a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.”
Hozan: The main reason that I left my country is that I couldn't find a place where I could leave safely and express my views. One of the most difficult things that we are facing, why living in the countries of asylum is that we are missing our Homeland or country, but we cannot visit it.
Sarah: Do you know how many people in the world had to flee their homes like Hozan and his family?
And the countries that most of these people came from are Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Myanmar.
And many of them aren't much older than you. Half of the people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes are under 18 years old (source).
Hozan: When you become a refugee, you need to learn a new language, find a new job and integrate into new society. And all of these are making huge challenges for the refugees on a daily basis.
[BREAKDOWN]
Sarah: There are ways that you can help people who have been forced out of their country because it's no longer safe for them stopping a war or stopping illegal crimes of a war or not as easy as writing a letter or raising.
But what you do can make a difference and you can write that letter and organize a peaceful protest and choose the action that feels right for you.
Whether it's hosting a bake sale or a fundraiser in donating the funds raised to organizations that help people in conflict zones like UNICEF doctors without borders or war child, you can also ask a grownup to help you write a letter to your president or local officials to ask that they help.
What you do can make a difference and it can have a ripple effect on other kids and grownups.
[UNDER-REPORTED]
Sarah: So now, you know, a little bit more about how war impacts the people living in the country where the war is happening. But we live in a world that is so connected through trade and economics and alliances.
And while the people in that country of the war suffer, the most wars impact us all and everyone matters.
Group of Kids: Everyone matters.
Sarah: So you’ve probably seen a lot on tv about how the war in Ukraine is impacting people in Ukraine. But it’s impacting everyone outside of Ukraine, too, including Egypt and the United States.
In fact, it’s creating both a fuel and food crisis in different parts of the world that aren’t geographically close to Ukraine or Russia!
Did you know that before the war Russia and Ukraine together exported more than 25% of the world’s wheat, and that’s according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). In fact, Russia and Ukraine are among the world's largest exporters of wheat.
Leo Michel: So there is now… already today… and this could be for two or three years, an enormous shortage in the world of wheat and other grains, particularly in countries that can afford it the least, like Egypt, countries in Northern Africa, elsewhere in the Middle East.
And the Russians now, because of the war that they've started with Ukraine, are putting a lot of pressure on world food supplies. In fact, prices in the US are being affected by that. Not so much yet, but as this goes on, even prices here for food in the United States will be affected by that war.
[CLOSING]
Sarah: Thank you for listening and for breaking it down with me today.
If you have a question about war, or if there’s something else going on in the world that you want us to break down, write to us or record a message and email us at listen@akidsco.com.
Sarah Jones Breaks It Down is written and reported by me, Sarah Jones. You can learn more about me and my work at sarahjonesreports.com.
Our show is edited and produced by Matthew Winner with help from Chad Michael Snavely and the team at Sound On Studios. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory.
And this show was brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever podcasts are found and check out other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
Thank you for hanging out with me and stay curious!