Syria: No strings l Witness

Three Syrian children seek refuge over the Turkish border where teachers try to help them cope with the trauma of war.

Over the past three years, many of the small towns on the Turkish side of Syrias’s northern border have been inundated with refugees fleeing the conflict. Kilis is one of these towns, in 2013 it was estimated to be home to 40,000 Syrian refugees, and this figure is steadily rising.

Most of the Syrian refugees are children – many of them have been exposed to severe trauma, all have faced agonising hardships.

Mohamad, Noor and Farid are three Syrian refugee children who all reside in Kilis, though live through different refugee experiences.

All the kids are unified by a struggle that does not normally make the headlines – the battle to regain their childhood. But the landscape they live in is not devoid of hope and help is at hand from a group of Syrian teachers who are about to use a surprising tool to help children cope with the traumas of war – puppetry.

From simple hand puppets to an elaborate puppet movie produced abroad, the teachers learn how to use puppetry to help Syrian children deal with the daily hardships of being a refugee.

Witness meets three Syrian children seeking refuge over the Turkish border and follows the work of the Syrian teachers trying to help kids cope with the traumas of war.

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