About War and…Children… - Maria Hatzigeorgiou

Drawing made by : Ioannis Ouzounidis, G4, High School, Orestiada, Greece.

Τhe war is raging and we are fighting in this horrible reality. A war without mercy, thousands of dead, harsh images, words and actions. Thousands of people are uprooted from their homes by violence, leave their families with sadness and lose their people with tears.

We are children who, instead of growing up with dolls, toys and cars, have grown up with grenades, revolvers, bombs and cannons. We are children but the massacres of civilians, the bombing of public places and houses are a common sight and the situations we are experiencing are miserable. We are children but we are forced to kill and take a human life. We are children but we are trained hard and equipped with deadly weapons every day. We are children but some of us fight like soldiers.

You are children who steal our joys, our hopes and the dreams of a childhood. We are children but we are forced to steal and kill for a sip of water or a bite of food. We are children among thousands of people who continue to make the same mistakes without thinking of the consequences.

  I used to hear people talking about wars, deaths and exploitation, and I am one of those children that everyone exploits and deprives him of all his rights. My soul suffers from unbearable pain and my eyes hurt from crying. I'm on the sidelines I'm afraid. We are children trying to survive and living the horrors of war and destined for certain death.

- Maria Hatzigeorgiou, B4, 1st Junior High School of Oresteiada, Greece

- Drawing made by : Ioannis Ouzounidis, G4, High School, Orestiada, Greece.