With the aim of raising awareness about COVID-19 and encouraging adolescents to follow healthy, proper practices and avoid unhealthy practices, the team of the Syrian Society for Social Development conducted awareness raising sessions titled “Protect yourself and others from Infection” as part of the Child Protection Program in Khaled Ibn Al Waleed Institute, Rural Damascus.

The sessions included preventive steps against the virus, such as, maintaining one’s personal hygiene and the correct way of washing hands. In addition to providing some information about ways of infection and prevention.

A group of volunteers, who had attended an awareness session facilitated by doctors and specialists, were responsible for conducting the adolescent sessions. They ensured conveying the right information to the beneficiaries.

The adolescents said that the sessions corrected some wrong conceptions and gave them the chance to discuss and inquire.

Neglecting personal hygiene is considered one of the most important health problems that children suffer greatly from. Therefore, an awareness session was implemented on the 3rd of March, 2020, in cooperation with UNHCR, with the aim of raising awareness on the importance of caring for and maintaining public hygiene at the current time.

Twenty-two boys and girls attended the session that evolved around the importance of hygiene care, and the best ways to wash their hands and sterilize them, whereby a doctor from the local community volunteered to implement the latter. During the session, explanatory videos and slides_ which included the correct ways to wash hands, the importance of using sterilizers, avoiding uncovered foods, foods that strengthen the immunity, important tips for general hygiene, an educational video on how to care for hygiene, and the importance of visiting a doctor when needed_ were presented. Later on, these children had a practical session where they applied what they had learned from the videos and slides.

Furthermore, the children interacted greatly during the session, and directed several questions to the doctor, who in turn answered them all.

At the end of the session, the doctor was thanked for his considerable efforts, who in turn expressed his gratitude by saying: "Thank you for your constant protection and caring for children. I consider this to be the duty of every member of society, whereby no one should fail to provide his experiences or information in order to protect children from all kinds of danger!"

"Through reading, I got to know many important historical figures - I read fascinating information about the planets and space. The library is extraordinary… I just love the books there!”. With these words, the children of the Bait Al Salam Center in Al Hameh expressed their happiness about the trip we organized to the Dummar Cultural Complex. The trip was carried out in cooperation with UNHCR, whereby 40 boys and girls were taken to a library within the Dummar Cultural Complex, in furtherance of the goals of the “Technology is Made for Us, Not Instead of Us” campaign. The aim of the latter was to help children discover new things, away from smart devices, and focus more on developing their talents and imrpve their social skills through various activities.

Furthermore, the children wandered during the visit throughout the library, and were helped in choosing the books they liked, whereby they had a delightful time while reading. Also, there were many challenging and intelligent games that children participated in solving.

At the end of the trip, a group of children prepared a play based on a novel they all read, and presented it in front of their friends using puppets. Thus, an atmosphere filled with joy and pleasure prevailed.