Voices of Resilience: Children’s Experiences in Crisis
“[Humanity] owes the child the best that it has to give…”
Our founder, Eglantyne Jebb wrote these words in the introduction to the very first version of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1923.
Over a century later, the world is still struggling to give children everything they need, including supporting them to fully access the rights Jebb laid out in the Declaration, along with its later version, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
This World Children’s Day, we are sharing the unique stories and experiences of three children who are living through conflict and crisis – to help you learn more about what we must do to support them and their futures.
* Names changes to protect identities
“I was happy that children also had a voice in a place where adults were present.” – Nelishan*, 12, Türkiye
Neslihan,12, and her family relocated to the container city following the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye in February 2023.
As she continues her studies as a 7th grader, Neslihan is also preparing for the high school entrance exams, loves painting, hanging out with her friends, balancing her academic life with efforts to rebuild a sense of normalcy in the aftermath of the earthquakes.
One of the key factors contributing to her resilience has been her involvement in Save the Children’s Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) activities. Through these sessions, Neslihan not only received the emotional and mental support needed during such challenging times, but she also found a space to enhance her well-being and strengthen her coping mechanisms.
Neslihan attended an 8-session MHPSS activities, including one particularly impactful session on child rights. During the discussions, it became apparent that many of the children, including Neslihan, had limited understanding of their right to have a say in decisions that affect them. This led to an extended initiative where, over the course of four additional sessions about child participation, children voluntarily participated in discussions about governance and decision-making processes.
“I felt happy during this process because I was glad to see that my ideas were valued as a child and that I was being listened [to],” Neslihan says.
This initiative has shown the children that they are not just passive observers but active contributors to their community, with the power to influence change. For Neslihan, being heard and respected as a young leader was a vital step in her post-disaster recovery, helping her regain a sense of control and purpose in her life.
“I believe the voice of the children should reach… officials because children suffer the most.” – Asaad, 13, Sudan
Asaad, 13, is an advocate for children affected by climate change all around the world. And he has a very personal motivation to make a difference. In 2021, devastating floods washed through Asaad’s home in Sudan, causing injuries, deaths and stopping children like him from going to school. Because of the floods, Asaad’s family felt they had no choice but to leave Sudan for Cairo, Egypt where he now lives.
With Save the Children’s support, Asaad travelled to COP 27 to tell his story and call on world leaders to take urgent climate action for children. Although sharing his story wasn’t easy, Asaad felt he had to tell it so that leaders find solutions so that children don’t suffer. Now, he wants to go back to COP again to continue standing up for children.
“If I were a leader, I would listen attentively to the decisions of the children. I would give the children their full rights, and allow them to participate in everything, and I would organize activities for them,” Asaad says. “Because many children suffer from depression because of many things such as not going to school, not having hospitals, and not being able to play.”
Asaad is looking forward to the future and is working hard to achieve his dreams of becoming a footballer like Kylian Mbappé and studying hard so he can also be an engineer, doctor or pilot when he grows up.
“It’s very difficult to understand that my whole childhood was there…” – Sofia*, 16, Ukraine
Sofia, 16, can remember when the armed conflict was happening in her Eastern Ukraine village eight years ago. After hiding in shelters for several days last February, Sofia asked volunteers to help her – as well as other children from the same village – leave the area, due to the consistent shelling. Now Sofia lives in a village in Western Ukraine, with her grandmother and her cat, where she and her grandmother share the only heated room in the house due to the cold weather.
Everyday Sofia helps other internally displaced people at a humanitarian aid point, working at a registration desk to hand out humanitarian aid such as hygiene items and household goods. Additionally, she attends school as an eleventh grader, where at first, she didn’t want to make friends, believing that no one would understand what she is going through.
Prior to the escalation in the conflict, Sofia participated in Save the Children’s School Safety Committees project that Save the Children organized with the support of our partners in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.
Sofia also had a chance to implement her knowledge in practice when she took part in consultations with the United States government on gender-based violence.
“Be yourself and do what you like, not what you are forced to do. If you like to draw, draw. If you like something else – do it,” Sofia says. “[I]t seems to me, even in this war, it’ll be very useful. Those children who draw can be great architects, who will be able to rebuild everything after this war.”
Help support children like Neslihan, Asaad, and Sofia who are living through conflict and crisis. Donate today.