“They Were Dying All Around Us”: 10-Year-Old Recounts Harrowing ‘Journey of Death’ from Syria to Turkey

Every child deserves the right to a good life.

A life that keeps them safe from danger, protected against starvation and pain, and free from death.

But the reality is that as much as every child has the innate right to a safe and fair childhood, not every child is born in a place that allows for one.

In Syria, more than 2 million children have fled their homes as a result of the civil war that has dominated the country for nearly seven years.

Hiba Nabulsi is one of those children. She’s a Syrian refugee who fled Syria, and miraculously found hope where most are hopeless.

At just 10 years old, she embarked on a voyage that she calls “a journey of death for the Syrians to Europe,” in hopes of saving herself from the violence that plagues her country.

Hiba’s escape from Syria was a matter of life and death, and her future would seem to be one that reflects her past: poverty, hardship and violence. But she’s determined for it to be just the opposite.

“I’m very strong, and competent,” she says of herself. “I’m very strong.”

Where you’re born should not determine whether or not you live.

But for millions of children around the world, this is a circumstance too many have to face.

We have the ability to help children like Hiba access the childhood they deserve, and build the foundation for a better future.

Visit www.unicefusa.org for more information on how you can help in the protection of the world’s most vulnerable children.