Christian charity Open Doors is helping by partnering with churches to organise educational programmes for children.

These churches have become Centres of Hope: 16 such centres are already established across Syria, through which Open Doors is providing vital aid for 12,000 vulnerable families, alongside the educational programmes. 

Claire Page from the charity told Premier about the scale of the issue.

“40 per cent of the schools in Syria have been destroyed or damaged during the conflict. So there’s two million children who are out of school. That’s a huge percentage,” she said.

In the Centre of Hope in the town of Mashta al-Helou, around 250 children participate in the activities and many of them attend English lessons.

Apart from the English lessons three days a week, children attend music classes and spiritual lessons as well as participating in various games and activities.

“We want to invest in the children, in their future but also in their spiritual life,” Noura, a volunteer teacher, said.

“We see that the activities are helpful for the children; we see them change. What motivates me to do this work is that I want to help these children. But I also see how serving them has a positive effect on me. When I teach the children about God, I personally grow in my faith.”

Another Centre of Hope located in the St George Catholic Church in Aleppo also focuses on…

The figures were released ahead of the start of the new school year by anti-bullying charity The Diana Award, which is supported by the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex and was set up in memory of their mother.

The survey, which polled more than 1,000 11 to 16-year-olds, also suggests that 40% of young people are worried about going back to school because of bullying, while only 23% think their school is good at tackling the issue.

However, not all bullying takes place in school and two in five young people (40%) said they have been targeted via social media.

Liam Moore, a Christian youthworker, told Premier: “When you look at some kids who are caught in the poverty track – they can’t afford trainers, they can’t afford the latest clothing, they can’t afford the latest kind of gimmick or whatever – the next minute they’re starting to be pointed out and started to be to put upon and vilified and castigated.

“You can see there’s just a lot of issues that are going on and obviously it’s increased through the years and the social dynamics have changed as well. Peer pressure and unemployment, families who are really struggling with universal credit and unemployment and all these  punitive measures, I believe, from the government are having an impact on families and having an impact on the children more than anything.”

Moore added that it was an area…

Paul Udoto, spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service, said those who died in the Sunday evening tragedy were five Kenyans of Indian descent, an Indian national and their Kenyan driver.

Six of the bodies have been recovered, Mr Udoto said on Monday.

Seven years ago, seven members of a church group died when they were washed away by floods in the same area, which is prone to flash floods during the rainy season.

Authorities say that while it may not be raining in the gorges, rainfall from surrounding areas builds up and can rush through the restricted space.

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