Local journalist Vani Saraswathi was recently driving home from Katara Cultural Village late one night when she encountered an Arab woman and two young boys waiting for a ride.

Hesitating only briefly, she told them to hop in – and learned a great deal about how close to home the civil war in Syria really is:

The mother with her two sons and two daughters fled to Doha from Damascus. The daughters stayed with their aunt (her sister), while she lived in a single rented room with her sons. No job in sight, and unable to afford to send the kids to school. Four months in Qatar, having lost all that was familiar and comfortable.

She had left behind a 20-year-old career as a French teacher, her husband, friends, her home. Now in Qatar, she is not quite sure whether she was at the threshold of greater tumult or little hope.

Meanwhile, the impact of uncertaintly appears to have taken its toll on the woman’s children, Saraswathi writes:

Three days after the encounter, I am still haunted by the eagerness in her smile, the determination in her voice, the sadness in her eyes and by Ahmed’s unsmiling face.

This is what war does. It splits families. It crushes dreams. It makes warriors of mothers and children.

Read her full post here. And please share your thoughts – what can we do to help those in need?

Credit: Photo by The Apostrophe