Help Our Own Kind!!

Syrian children struggle in refugee camps as winter tightens its grip

 OFN - In Al Qaem, Iraq, the anger and despair of the refugees is palpable. Two refugee camps have been set up there, nine miles from the border with Syria. As Save the Children's Country Director, I made the dangerous 280-mile journey out to Al Qaem to help with our distribution of urgently needed newborn kits and to hear the stories of the families.

Although in numbers they are fewer than their counterparts in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, their suffering and needs are no less pronounced, especially given their low profile, the extreme challenges that organizations are facing in reaching them, the lack of funding and the minimal services in the area. Save the Children is one of very few organizations supporting the more than 8,000 Syrian refugees living in very difficult circumstances in this hardly accessible area in the far western corner of Iraq.