Little Heroes
Thousands of Christian children have been taken by their families away from their homes and from everything they knew to a few, relatively ‘safe’ areas. These children are trying to make a new life in their new homes. But they are scared, they have lost hope and they see no future for themselves. To date, we have helped over 2,200 of Syria’s children.
HOW DOES LITTLE HEROS WORK?
Little Heroes is a mentoring programme for displaced and disadvantaged children, aged 6 to 12, in Syria. It is for children of every denomination, and children of other faiths are always welcome. We work on building their well-being, self-esteem, resilience, and emotional and mental health.
Program Objectives:
Give children back some of their lost childhood;
Plant the seeds of love, trust and hope in them;
Help them to build bridges within their community; and
Empower them to overcome the great troubles they have faced.
This mentoring programme guarantees the most disadvantaged children a year-long individual mentoring programme, with each participating child receiving at least one hour a week of personal attention and support. Little Heroes is unique. To our knowledge, no-one is offering a similar programme in Syria.
The educational methods have been chosen by our educators, including counsellors, to offer the children a wide range of stimulating and thought-provoking styles of both play and learning.
Every year we welcome Muslim families who send their children to Little Heroes. These children take full part in the activities and also receive counselling and support. The parents trust the Awareness Foundation, and they recognise that Little Heroes offers their children both a disciplined environment and a rare opportunity to interact with their Christian peers.
Little Heroes is led by experienced educators, with the support of our local coordinator and her team of 30 locally-trained volunteers. Our programme is tailor-made by Syrians for the children of Syria.
NSPIRING LITTLE HEROES
Fadi's Story
Fadi was one of the many displaced children who came to us for help.
His family had lived in a part of Syria which had been taken over by fundamentalists. We can only imagine what horrors this little boy had seen in his hometown, and what he encountered on his long and dangerous journey to the relative safety of Latakia.
Lisa's Story
When we started Little Heroes in Lattakia in 2015, Lisa was one of many displaced children who came to take part. Like each of her peers, Lisa had her own story to tell, but she needed love, time and patience before she would be ready to share it with us.
Shadi's Story
As part of the Little Heroes programme, we help children to discover their hidden talents – such as crafts, art, drama, sport, music or writing.
One young boy attending our programme for the very first time was Shadi; he was 9 years old, and he has known nothing in his short life but war, deprivation and despair.