LEARNING TO LIVE
SUNDAY MIRROR Kids taught how to spot the deadly bombs & booby traps
CHILDREN in the ravaged streets of wartorn Aleppo are taught how to identify unexploded bombs – so they don’t mistake them for toys.
Teams of volunteers are touring the Syrian city’s devastated east side to show children pictures of a deadly array of explosives.
For their homework, which might just keep them alive, they study photos of bombs and booby traps.
UNICEF says at least six children were killed by devices they mistook for toys in the weeks after the truce between the government and opposition groups.
Many buildings are still rigged with mines and tripwires. Victims include Majed, 13, who was playing in a park when he saw his pal die.
He and tragic Omar, 11, found a green metal object buried in sand. It exploded, killing Omar and piercing Majed’s body and face with shrapnel. Part of his intestines Omar, I didn’t know how to help. Two men rushed us to hospital in a taxi.
“I was so cold and in pain. I watched Omar die in the car. I will never forget that day.”
Children in nearby towns have suffered too.
Like 10-year-old Amin, who was playing with his cousin when he found an unexploded bomb in Assan. He said: “I wanted to show it to my friends. I grabbed the bomb.
“It exploded. Shrapnel entered my chest, it burned like a fire. I was rushed to a hospital in Aleppo where I stayed for a month.”
UNICEF and its partners have alerted more than 80,000 people to the risks since November – going from door to door and holding awareness sessions.
The Sunday Mirror’s Save The Aleppo Children campaign has helped raise awareness and funds to assist war victims.
■To help keep Syrian children safe visit unicef.uk/syriadonate