SYRIAN WAR - Refugee's Educational Support

In a broad summary: the wealthy and powerful of every country in conflict appear to be funding and supplying arms to varying sides of these wars depending upon their agendas for financial gains, be it from Oil Industry Sales, Military Weapons Sales and/or future promises made of land ownership. As a consequence, the homes of millions and millions of innocent men, women and children have been destroyed, forcing them to flee their homelands they have occupied for generations to seek sanctuary in any country that will accept them. Unfortunately, more times than not, these USAID supported tent cities established for temporary relief go from “month-to-month” stays into a permanent relocations. Such is the case in The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, where almost a million Palestinians were relocated after the 1948 Nakba or Great Disaster Land Grab by the Zionists where today, the Palestinians still live in squalid conditions rife with apartheid & genocide 70 years later. One must consider: do these leaders intentionally “purge” a population of disgruntled citizens from their regions through wars, knowing this will quell the complaints by them?

Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq have all graciously received millions of displaced refugees from the Syrian War alone. As we were in the field doing our project, the Iraq War with ISIS started, which is simply exacerbating what already is a horrific problem for those concerned for humanitarian issues.

To illustrate the disastrous affects this refugee situation has on regions, consider this: Lebanon’s relatively healthy economy, with an educated population of roughly 4 million people, has over the past several years, accepted approximately 1.5 million refugees to their country. It is too easy to overlook the emotional, physical and financial burden this places on the Lebanese themselves and on the government to provide social services, like water and sewer, streets, medical aid and education. Currently, well water levels are running dangerously low in Lebanon, and this influx of 1.5 million new inhabitants is exacerbating the situation. Crime has increased, inflation of food prices and the shortage of goods are a constant problem for the Lebanese people. I must note that the Lebanese people I met were amazingly hospitable and gracious to the refugees, especially given their own pain in dealing with the difficulties caused in their own lives by the refugees arrival.

Consider that 99.9% of these unfortunate refugees had nothing to do with these wars. They are all the sad collateral damage of those in power who refuse to share. We have met with, and discussed with hundreds and hundreds of people in many countries, ethnicities and religions, and have come to the conclusion that greed and hatred are to blame for this turmoil. It is not religion.

WHAT WE FIND, OVER AND OVER AGAIN

When a business person makes money, all he wants next is to make more money. When a person comes into power, whether it is religious or political power, all he wants is more power and to appropriate for himself any foreign aid coming into his country. Historically, this is simply the same story repeating itself over and over again. The leadership and ruling parties of every country govern with an iron fist and their people remain disenfranchised. Those who are so deserving and are an integral part of their country and culture struggle to sustain themselves. Money for public works “disappears” over and over again, taxes rise, services and infrastructure decline and everyone wonders why? Then news arrives that the ruling leaders’ bank accounts are “stuffed full of money”, and the country is broke. The people then initiate a revolt, many are killed….the process goes the same way, century after century, over and over and over …and yet we expect a change.

Unfortunately, the end result is a huge, disproportionate population of uneducated and poor people living all over the world in underdeveloped and developed countries who are completely disenfranchised. If they voice their disgruntlement by protesting the injustices, those in power simply call in their military or foreign hired militias with their foreign-made weapons to quell troublemakers. The whole world watches but really does nothing.

We can change all of this “if we choose” to eliminate corruption and abuse of power at the top.