SO WHAT SHOULD I TELL THEM?
Prior to arriving at the border, I didn't really know what I would find or what to expect. I also felt no real sense of danger, since I traveled with the expectations and preparedness that everything may get stolen from me at some point. Since I had nothing much to lose, my confident strides carried me. The bottom line is that the border is not painted by the sound of birds or the rustling of trees, but of sirens rushing to and from the border hastily in an attempt to rescue civilians. It's topography is that of injured refugees, who's homes are left behind in the rubble and who's future is almost as scary as their recent stories of unfortunate tragedies. Refugees wait around. They wait because there are almost no jobs for Syrian refugees in Turkey. Time passes slowly for them as they sulk in the sad energy of their tales, constantly talking about the pain they have endured and how God should not show this kind of life to anyone.
I sometimes didn't even know what to tell them when they asked me why the world wasn't doing anything about the massacre. "Don't they care about us?" they would ask me, as if I held the key to solving their problems. I didn't. I was just a girl going out there to see for myself what was going on and deliver aid. My only hope would be to try and get some more Aid in. This is one of the most unique cases in history. Besides Hitler- A crazy man killing his own people? Usually, the term refugee is reserved for people who seek refuge elsewhere. How is it possible then that there are over 3 million refugees in Syria alone and its because they can't escape. Not all of them can cross that bridge between cities to get to the border and escape. They therefore sleep in parks, and decompose along with the soil, usually of hunger. They therefore technically are not refugees but prisoners of war.
So, does the world care? Most of the world probably does, if they knew what was going on exactly, but the world will care more now that possibly chemical weapons are being involved, because it puts them at stake.
The world needs to care now. Not later. Because later will be too late. The cold I experienced with them on the border is something I do not wish on anyone. I stayed at some of their homes and froze my butt off at night with them and felt what it was truly like to have my first cold night of "sleep" in my life. You don't really get any sleep. So, to answer my question from earlier, I didn't really know what to tell the kid who told me that all he wanted was a new leg, since the government took his leg. I didn't really know what to tell the dad who lost his 7 year old daughter to the crumbling of his house being hit by a bomb. I had no words for the countless widows I met, or to the kids who drew drawings depicting the gruesome decapitated images they witnessed. All I could do was be a shoulder, an ear, and a bit of aid. A blanket for some, rent for others, a heater or perhaps even a grocery store shopping spree. I was also a photo booth for some refugees, as they took my hat off and played with it, snapping pictures with my phone and laughing as they looked at how "Western" they were in the hat.
I told them people cared, more than they had the privilege of experiencing. But I didn't have the answers they wanted to hear. I wished I could tell them that I could personally end the conflict and bring them safely back home and help them rebuild their home. I wished I could promise them that foreign entities would not be making money off the rebuilding of their homes and that their olive trees would be just fine. But I myself am unsure about anything except one thing. The only thing I'm sure of is that the sooner this regime is gone, the less people will have to pay for it with their lives. Even if a not so great president comes next, at least he wont be crazy enough to kill his own people. Maybe its time for a woman?