Why I Am Doing This?

As a father to my beloved son, husband to my loving wife, and a fellow Christian in a country blessed to be a blessing, can I do nothing after knowing that women and children are dying each day in Syria? As we go about our lives in our little utopia, we can pretend that the horrors of Syria do not exist but the truth is that a mother is crying for the loss of her child and a child is traumatized under constant bombing for life, each day and every day..

When I saw this photo (below), it really broke my heart. The disproportionate use of force on a helpless child, who has done nothing wrong, really affected me emotionally. Every child is precious to God and we must do our part, no matter how small, to save them and help them. Many of us indulge in luxuries which don’t need and by making small contributions, we will be able to save a child and hopefully share our love to them.

May I pray that what breaks God’s heart, break our hearts too. 

Why support the Syrian people and not other underprivileged groups?

More than 13 million people inside Syria now need humanitarian assistance, more than half of whom are children the UN says. Of the 6.1 million people internally displaced, roughly half (2.8 million) are children.

Children remain the most vulnerable in this crisis. Over 5.6 million children need assistance, including almost 2 million who have sought refuge in neighboring countries, many of which are themselves under-resourced and struggling to meet basic needs. Children inside Syria tell us that they feel hopeless. They have witnessed their friends and families being killed. Their homes are now rubble. They are hungry, often sick. They can’t find clean water. Hospitals are barely functioning.

In eastern Ghouta a besieged population of almost 420,000 people, half of whom are children, are enduring a month of airstrikes from Russian and Syrian jets, which are attempting to oust opposition fighters and the communities that support them from Damascus’s doorstep. Estimated death tolls in Ghouta range from 1,000 to 1,300 people. Children are thought to account for at least several hundred casualties.

It is important to understand that this is a war of proxies - war of the world’s superpowers flexing their might on the helpless as a show of force to the other world powers. Singapore or any nation, could have been Syria or be the next Syria. If we do not help the innocent, who will?

For every child saved, heaven rejoices. In the darkest hours, light shines the brightest. May you provide the light to these children living in darkness.

Save The Children - What they do?

Save the Children has had programs in the Middle East for decades. Despite the danger inside Syria, we have reached over 1.1 million people, including over 570,000 children, with life-saving food baskets, education, health services, clean water, warm clothes and support for traumatized children. Across the region, over 2.3 million people, including over 1.5 million children, have benefited from our programs to date.

Why am I running barefooted?

Hopefully my barefooted run is symbolic on the deprivation of the children in Syria. This is nothing compared to the extremes that they have experienced.