Reports | 25 05 2020
Many Children in Douma have found a new type of work that generates some income to help their families. Starting in the early morning, they roam the streets, searching for any plastic material to collect, and they bring it to one of the centers that pays a small amount of money for plastic materials.
Zakariyya is only ten years old, but he is well-versed, like an experienced adult. Zakariyya revealed that his father was arrested one month ago by Jaysh al-Islam (The Army of Islam), so he started collecting plastic materials to help his family. “I quit that job after my friends got killed during one of the military bombardments of the city. They were collecting plastics when it happened. They were my age,” Zakariyya said.
Tricking Death
Due to the tight blockade imposed by the regime, life in Eastern Ghouta (rural Damascus) has become extremely difficult, and death has become a regular visitor. In desperate attempts to avoid death, people in Ghouta have resorted to primitive and sometimes dangerous methods.
But all their attempts cannot prevent the threat of death that constantly surrounds them. While the 10-year-old Ahmad was telling us about his work in collecting plastic materials, a military airplane entered the air space above Douma to attack the city with rockets, but brave Ahmad, who has gotten used to this situation, continued his conversation with us, indifferent to what might happen.
“I have been collecting plastic materials for a year. Many of my friends were killed while roaming the streets. We of course fear the airplanes, but there is nothing that we can do to stop them,” Ahmad said.
No Fear
With indifference to possible death, 15-year-old Omar has been collecting plastic materials for years. He puts his life in danger every day to acquire some flour that keeps his family from starving to death.
“I spend my days collecting plastic in order to survive. This is how my life is spent,” said Omar, whom we met in a plastic-buying center in Douma. Omar is not different from many other children in Douma. The more than three-year blockade has forced him into this hard and dangerous work. If it were not for plastic, life in Douma would have completely stopped, especially with the complete absence of electricity and water, as Omar said.