LA Times HS Insider

Corona del Mar High School

Miranda Chang January 19, 2016

Undelivered Syrian letters

Birthday Letters to the Syrian girl along with a photo of WLO members.

In Syria, the ongoing, brutal civil war devastates millions of lives. Half of the population is forced to flee to neighboring countries and Europe. Even though some countries do not welcome them, the Syrian refugees do not have a choice. They will perish if they stay home. An estimated 670,000 children are deprived of education, according to Reuters.

In my life, the thought has never crossed my mind if there is going to be food on the table in the morning. Seeing the starving children in war-torn Syria really opens my eyes to a suffering world outside the America. There are days students dread waking up to go to school, yet kids in Syria want an education but can’t get one. As a high school student, I want to do my part. I ask my club members (World Love Organization [WLO]) to help sponsor a girl in Syria. WLO has sponsored 21 kids in seven countries since 2008, and we write to them every month. We are very proud to see them grow, and hopefully someday they can be out of poverty.

WLO-sponsored kids from the Philippines, Zambia, Nepal, the United States, the Honduras, Switzerland, and India.

Since November 2015, WLO has been sponsoring the girl, and to help celebrate her birthday on Jan. 23, my members were busy drawing and writing cards before Christmas. Unfortunately, when we went to the post office to mail the birthday cards, the worker told us there is currently no service to Syria. Our little well wish for the girl can’t be delivered, which made us disappointed and frustrated.

I know international politics are complicated, and human conflicts have been around for as long as the human history. I only hope this crisis in Syria can be resolved as soon as possible. Everyone deserves to live a peaceful life on Earth.

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