Downton Abbey stella, star Laura Carmichael looks back on trip to help Syrian refugees 

Downton Abbey star Laura Carmichael looks back on trip to help Syrian refugees

Downton\'s \'Lady Edith\' looks back over her trip to Lebanon to learn about the plight of Syrian refugees and says the children long for a time when they can go back to a safe school and be with other kids

Laura Carmichael travels to Lebanon, one year on from the world Humanitarian Summit (Photo: aworldatschool)

This time last year Laura Carmichael had the chance to visit Lebanon with children’s charity Theirworld to meet and hear the stories of Syrian refugee children out of school. Here is her story:

Over the last 5 years the war in Syria has been widely reported. However, I knew very little about the humanitarian situation. The stories of the children whose lives have been torn apart by this conflict- where are they now, are they safe and what does their future hold.

Every single family I met, welcomed me into their homes with such kindness, almost impossible to comprehend when they have lost so much. Everyone wanted to share their story for people to hear and understand their situation. This was not a life they could have ever expected to be living, but they are living it and so they need support.

I met children that had been out of school for up to four years. Children who have undertaken the most horrific journeys to escape the violence. Children who have lost family members, and witnessed things no child should ever have to see. And now living trying to make a new life, but without the chance to have an education they have no idea what their future holds.

Read more: Downton\'s Lady Edith helps refugee children

Laura Carmichael travels to Lebanon (Photo: aworldatschool)

One child told me they had seen their teacher beaten up in front of them in Syria. They had been terrorised on the school bus. They long for a time when they can go back to a safe school and be with other kids. They miss their friends, classmates and teachers.

Out of school children are becoming trapped in child labour and early marriage and are vulnerable to radicalization. At an age where I was I would have been doing painting classes, and running around playing hopscotch in the playground, children are working long days picking fruits in the field, or worse still married off. Their childhood snatched away in a blink.

I spoke to a mother who told me her two sons, who had once dreamed of being teachers and doctors were now labouring every day to support their family. You could hear the sadness in her voice that her children were bearing the brunt of the war. With a desperate cry she wanted to assert to me that school was not just about learning to read and write, but that it was a way to support them in their future. Perhaps a worry of her own, that having lost her husband and in her current situation something she would no longer be able to do.

Healthcare, sanitation and food are really important in the aftermath of a disaster and there is no arguing with that, but returning children to a safe school is also absolutely essential. The need for education is a hunger of sorts that needs to be satisfied. It is essential for survival or a life that is not a struggle of hardship, of poverty which can translate across generations.

An education not only provides children with the tools they need to rebuild their lives, but it also protects the most vulnerable children from being sucked into forms of exploitation. It provides a safe space where children can channel their trauma, share it with teachers or pour it onto a page.

I also had the chance to meet children who had finally returned to school supported by the campaigning Theirworld have been doing. I met a 12-year-old boy called Sharbal who told me how much he loved films. When I asked him about his journey to Lebanon, his face totally changed. He looked so frightened I didn’t like to think what he must have been through.

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He was so gorgeous, and had the hope in his face that he could dream about a future where he could fulfil his potential and try to rebuild his and his families lives away from the narrative of war.

One of the boys I met was hard to forget, and I have told his story to many people I have met since. When I met Ahmad last year, he told me had fled Syria three years ago. And had since been out of school. At just thirteen years old he was working every day at a local car mechanics. He told me that his dream was to be an architect, so that one day he could return to Syria to rebuild his country. A dream at the time he knew was impossible without an education.

However, in October last year, through Theirworld’s campaigning Ahmad returned to school for the first time in three years. He now walks past that mechanic’s shop on the way to school. Its an amazing thought that yet again, he can be a child that can hope that the dreams he has are possible.

I often think of the children I have met, and how fortunate I am that I never had to fight for my fundamental right to have an education. For the vulnerable children around the world, victims of war they had no part of or earthquakes, and tsunamis that shook, or drowned away all they know, we must not even question that we provide and protect them. They must have the chance to return to school to be the doctors, teachers and actors of the future.

However, less that two per cent of humanitarian aid supports these children. In three days the first ever humanitarian summit is being held in Istanbul, here we need to see the funds from the leaders of the world to build a global fund for education in emergencies. A life changing pot of money that will go towards getting children like I met, and others trapped in emergencies around the world now and in the future can return to the safety of a school.

We must invest in the future of these children and generations to come so they do not continue to pay the price of emergencies for the rest of their lives. Sign Theirworld’s #safeschools petition now at aworldatschool.org/safeschools

Funding from the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery has enabled Theirworld to expand its education work in Lebanon where we are working with government, international agencies and local organisations to find sustainable solutions for the refugee education crisis.