Reports | 25 05 2020
Amal was surprised by the reason that prompted her seven-year old daughter, Limar, to refuse to go to school; namely fear of her classmates.
The housewife recounts to Rozana how, with the beginning of the school year, her daughter abstained from going to school. She says: "On the first day she cried her heart out, without disclosing the reason. I thought that the she was acting out, and that she feared school, like a spoiled child."
After this behavior persisted two consecutive days, according to Amal, Limar finally told her mother that she was afraid to go to school, as she believes that there were children who are killing Christians at her school.
This justification came as a shock to the mother, who says: "I tried to comfort her—even enlisting a friend of mine. She came with her daughter to visit us, and played with Limar. She told her the she herself was a Muslim, and that Islam is a beautiful thing, and that Muslims like Christians."
Limar is not unique. Many of the parents report that stories of ISIS have become part of their children's everyday thought. Children live in a state of perpetual fear of the imminent arrival of someone to torture them, and they weave in sordid images in their imaginations of the atrocities that will allegedly befall them if that were to happen.
One of the main reasons for the children's fear was the spread of a video shortly before, of an 8-year-old girl pledging allegiance to ISIS, and chopping of the head of her doll with a knife amid her father's approving cries of "Allahu Akbar!!" [God is Great!!].
Initiative
Rozana met with many young Christians volunteers in churches in Damascus, who confirmed that such concerns were widespread among children, while at school. Most of the children's questions revolve around ISIS, and "are their friends at school going to emulate the children who appear on YouTube, and kill them?" as of one of these young volunteers puts it.
These and other observations prompted many young Christians, in collaboration with their Muslim counterparts, to start a social initiative.
One of those responsible for the initiative explained the initiative to Rozana, as being based on choosing a group of Christians and Muslim children, then familiarizing each with the religious teachings of the other party. Then the children are integrated in to a variety of joint social, cultural and religious activities.
The youn man adds that this experiment will be replicated, and disseminated as widely as possible.
One of the participants in the initiative, on the other hand, says "The phenomenon is widespread on both sides. Children in schools live in a state of constant fear, that children similar to those who appear in the YouTube videos, will come to visit upon them acts of murder," he says. He adds: "Our initiative seeks to educate children, and to eraidcate this existential fear they currently have."
"Omni-Receptors"
According to Education Theory, children are receptors of whatever ideas parents and relatives inculcate into them. This is added to the effect of the largely unregulated and omnipresent media upon children, especially through social media, and mobilephones.
Parents' constant mention of ISIS, and follow-up its news, photos, as well as videos broadcast by news channels, has created terror in children, "whether Muslims or Christians."