Fatima

Fatima (NEW)Life is unfair in the eyes of little Fatima, who was only eleven years old when we met her. She fled her hometown, Masaken Hanano, under the shelling, witnessing war crimes in Aleppo province. “We just wanted not to hear that noise,” Fatima described. She would love to return home, but with calm and freedom, which according to her means “Bashar must be toppled.” Before the war, she used to enjoy reading and writing as well as playing hide and go seek at school. She aspires to become a doctor, but now Fatima attends a regular Turkish school, where she has to learn a new language and is looked down upon — rocks have even been thrown at her. Ideally, she wants to attend the Arabic school in Turkey, but logistically it is too far and expensive for her family to afford. Many girls her age have been married off, but Fatima told us she would like “to become a doctor… Because we are suffering… That would make me happy…”