Imagine being born and brought up in an atmosphere of war; always living in fear, never knowing the peace of good night’s sleep and struggling hard to see love in the eyes of another human being because hate and destruction has taken over. This is the unfortunately the reality of Syrian children today.
The children in Syria have witnessed horrific violence and have lost their childhood as a result. They are asking for a chance to live a normal life like other children.
And so, they are inviting you to join them in a beautiful gesture of lighting a candle and praying to the Lord the Prince of Peace, for peace in Syria.
50,000 children from different Christian communities in six war-torn cities of the country (Damascus, Homs, Marmarita, Aleppo, Hassake, Tartous and Latakia) are lighting candles, writing messages on cardboards wind shields to express their desire for peace, reconciliation and respect.
ACN hopes to offer consolation to Syrian Christians in the suffering they are going through. Part of this is why we are bringing the children together under the roof of innocence in a spirit of unity and mutual support.
To mark this prayer campaign, Aid to the Church in Need has organized various events, including a formal reception on the 3rd of December in Rome for ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, a direct link up via Skype with children in Syria taking part in the event Candles for peace, and a meeting at the European Parliament on 4 December, where testimonies will be given by two Syrian religious sisters who have been working with and supporting the country’s Christian communities throughout the eight years of the war and are now helping with the reconstruction programme.
From the 19-23 November Muslim and Christian school children drew and wrote messages for peace on the candle’s cardboard wind shields as an expression of the desire for peace, reconciliation, and respect through these drawings and prayers.
On 24-25 November Christian children held processions, theatre, songs and dances for peace in church compounds in Syria.
Thanks exclusively to the generous support of benefactors throughout the world, ACN is able to support more than 5,000 projects each year, including persecuted Christians and other beneficiaries in greatest need in over 160 different countries. Since the Syrian war began in 2011, ACN has supported projects for a total of almost 29.5 million Euros in the country.
