“I want my son back, I want to hold him.” – Umm Amir

Umm Amir is a Syrian woman from Damascus, where she used to live with her two daughters and two sons. She fled to Lebanon to escape the war two years and a half ago. Umm Amir is divorced and doesn’t get any support from her husband – the family survive on less than $60 a month. One of her sons works as a casual labourer to help support the family – a huge amount of pressure on a young man who is only 21 years old, with no hope of higher education.

One of her daughters sought refuge in Turkey and her other son is still in Syria, missing. She only knows that he was arrested on his way to work. Umm Amir paid a lot of money to find out if he was still alive, and someone provided some medical papers, but his location remains unknown.

Umm Amir told us: “I want to return home. I want all my children with me…I want my son back, I want to hold him. He is just a boy, just going to work, he has hurt no one, done nothing.”