*Dear Child of the World* : Voices of Roj Prison Camp's Illegally Detained Children

 

Written by child detainees at the Roj Prison Camp in northeastern Syria, which holds without charge thousands of women and children. Canada refuses to repatriate 5 Canadian children and issue temporary resident permits to their mothers, all of whom have been detained over 7 years under conditions the United Nations describes as "akin to torture." Canada has a choice to make here. It needs to listen to the voices of the children. 

*Dear Child of the World* 

I simply wonder… 

 I wonder what’s beyond the fence, pal. 

 I wonder if you know how lucky you are. 

I watch you sometimes, when you pass on the other side. You carry little bags, hold your mother’s hand, and disappear into somewhere I cannot reach. 

I wonder where you go. 

I wonder if your feet know the feeling of grass stretching farther than my little eyes can see. 

If you can run without a gate deciding when you must turn back. 

If you can look toward the horizon without first meeting metal. 

I wonder what’s beyond the fence, pal… 

Mama says there are places where children go to learn, and then come home when the day is done. 

Places with open doors. 

Places where tomorrow is something you look forward to, not something you simply survive. 

I wonder if she has seen them. 

Sometimes I put my hand against the fence and imagine the other side is only a little farther away than my fingers can reach. 

It never is. 

I wonder what’s beyond the fence, pal… 

I know the sounds of this place by heart. The old tents shifting in the wind, footsteps pressing into the dust, water being carried from somewhere far away, the voices of mothers calling their children back before the light disappears. 

I know how to make a day out of almost nothing. 

I know how to wait. 

I know how to make a game from a piece of string, a stone, a broken thing someone has forgotten. 

But I do not know what it feels like to leave. 

I wonder what’s beyond the fence, pal… 

Maybe there are gardens. 

Maybe there are schools with windows that open. 

Maybe there are children who have never had to wonder why they cannot simply walk home. 

Maybe there is a place where the horizon belongs to everyone. 

And maybe, somewhere beyond that fence, there is a life waiting for me that does not yet know my name. 

Dear Child of the World, 

Is there anything beyond it at all? 

And why does everyone who knows the answer keep walking past? 

Perhaps one day I will know. 

Perhaps one day I will walk through it and

there! 

There, we will dance in the rain… 

and… and… 

I’ll have my hands sticky with candyfloss. 

I’ll play with baby chicks. 

And yes! 

I’ll go to the movies. 

Maybe I’ll run until I am tired. 

Maybe I’ll laugh without knowing why. 

Maybe I’ll wake up one morning and not have to wonder how far I am allowed to dream. 

But tonight, 

the fence is still there. 

And so am I. 

Still holding on to my simple dreams, Dear Child of the World. 

I simply wonder… 

I wonder what’s beyond that fence. 

And... 

I wonder why everyone who knows the answer keeps walking past. 

 Dear… 

Child… 

of the… 

World. 

Yours, 

A dreaming soul❤️