Damascus, SANA – Performed by Syrian children, the song “We the children”, written and composed by Elias al-Rahbani, debuted on Sunday at the Damascus Opera House.
The concert, organized by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugee Affairs (UNHCR), included musical pieces performed by refugee children and children affected by the crisis, the Rainbow children’s chorus, and the Somali Last Echo group.
In a speech during the event, SARC President Abdelrahman al-Attar said that Syria had hosted more than 1.5 Iraqi refugees; hosting them in its houses instead of putting them in tents, and never asked the world for aid in exchange for this.
In turn, UNHCR representative in Syria Tarek al-Kurdi said that 2014 has been a hard year for refugees who number over 50 million around the world, half of them children, noting that Syria still hosts refugees to this day, with around 35,000 refugees enjoying the same services that Syrian citizens enjoy.
H. Sabbagh