😥😥 How life works in reality: my definition of an ideal childhood 😇😇

Staying in your own comfort zone will never make you able to see the real world. To see how others live and work. How other cultures, religions and ethics are. You have to see it with your own bare eyes and feel it with your soul. Of course everyone watches the news and sees how messed up the world can be, however it is still not a reality if you have not seen it from near. Since I had worked in Iraq I had so many reality checks. Just because I had a good childhood does not mean that everyone did. I remember how my parents every other weekend took us to a zoo or a theme park, my only worry was why I had to be back home before the streetlights went on, but this is not the case for every child in the world. I have to note that a good childhood does not necessary mean to go to every zoo in the country and have everything you want. For me having a good childhood means a childhood without worries, full of joy and that you were able to be a child. Children need to grow up in the soil of affection of care.

Thus the question I kept asking myself was whether the children at the refugee camp did fit my definition of having a good childhood?

If you have read my previous articles you know that the answer is no, those children do not fit my definition of having a ideal childhood. To change this I asked my supervisor whether I could organize an activity for the children at the refugee camp who fled from ISIL. I had worked a lot with the children and knew what would make them very happy, which was to go outside the camp for once. To bring them to a place special for children which they would remember as one of their beautiful childhood memories. I asked my colleagues whether there was a Zoo in Erbil and we immediately went to check the location. It was beyond perfect. We arranged a meeting with the Zoo owner to discuss our plans and the security measures they needed to take. We also arranged a meeting with the Director of the Camp to get the permission. It was a long but productive meeting, he gave us the permission and we could start gathering the children and rent a school bus.

In a few days time we organized a fun day outside the camp for the refugee children, to see their reaction was priceless and beautiful. In the bus on our way to the Zoo we put some Halparke music (Kurdish dance music) on and they all started clapping and singing. After so many weeks working in the refugee camp I did not see them with those smiles and emotions before. It was truly an indescribable and special moment to be part of.

The children were so amazed by the animals and acted so friendly. They all got some snacks from us and they first shared it with the animals instead of eating it themselves. After watching every animal, taking pictures and playing together it was time to have lunch and after lunch it was time to go home. I felt that we had to bring the children back to the real world. After such an amazing day we had to bring the children back to the camp, while I knew that I was going to a warm home, with a warm shower. These moments were for me the most heartbreaking ones. Everytime I left the children I felt this way, as if I was going back to the real world while the reality is those children living in camps, that is the real world, that is reality!

However these children each and every time managed to still make me happy and show me why I did what I was doing. Why I worked so hard and why I was in Iraq. They showed me ones again that they are children, they are fragile and do not ask much, they just need love and care. When we arrived at the camp the children left the bus with big smiles asked us when we would go again. I was not used to the camp as they were, they saw it already as their home, they only needed to get their life back as children.