ROJ HOZAN

Qamishlo - Undoubtedly, women and children are the most affected by wars and conflicts. The Children's Department of Qamishlo Municipal Council developed a project to build a Children’s Protection Center in the Xizna village of Qamishlo for orphans and street children (ages 5 to 18). NuJINHA spoke to the Children’s Department director Gewîn Mihemed about the aims of the project.

“Children are used”

Speaking about the aims of the project, Gewîn Mihemed said, “We have worked on the project for orphans and street children for about a year. We held many meetings and made preparations to put this project into practice. We know very well that women and children are the most affected by the Syrian war and conflicts. Many children are used by armed factions due to the chaos in Syria. We always say that if children are not supported, they will be used by many people.”

“Many children are from other regions”

Drawing attention to the children being involved in the project, Gewîn Mihemed said that many children are from other regions. “They were brought to this region by their families or other people in order to use them as beggars. Yes, many people are poor but this does not mean that they can use children to ask money from others. We have sent many children to their families and provided financial support to them. We will monitor these families to see if they send their children to school or not. There are many orphans in the region. They will stay in the center until they grow up and stand on their own feet.”

“We give opportunities to the children in order to have a normal life”

Talking about the system of the Children’s Protection Center, Gewîn Mihemed said, “Many children living in the center do not have a normal life. Many children have bad habits. We give opportunities to the children in order to have a normal life. We will work for these children to feel like they are a family here. We have many departments such as administration, health, psychology and archive departments. The aim of these departments is to serve children. We contacted the Council of Education for the education of these children. There are many illiterate children and we will send them to school. We have another project to strengthen the artistic and social abilities of these children.” 

“Children must be protected”

“Healthy children respecting people should be raised because children shape the future,” Gewîn Mihemed said, “Children must be protected. We protect the future of children. If we do not protect children, we will have no future.”