Zawraq (Boat in English) is a children magazine based in the city of Kafranbel, that takes Syrian children on a voyage of adventure and learning, away from their violent reality.

Launched by two school teachers, Mouhammed Salloum and Khayr Eddin Oubayed, the idea of the magazine was born after schools in opposition-held areas were closed, and thousands of children were denied an education.

The marginalization of the issues of these areas has had some grave consequences. “An alarming number of children has been out of school for almost three years,” highlights Salloum, co-editor of Zawraq magazine, “which jeopardizes the future of an entire generation, let alone making them more vulnerable to violence.”

To tackle this issue, the magazine focuses on children between the ages of seven and fourteen with its diverse content. From short stories to art, history and comics, Zawraq devotes most of its pages to improving the learning capacities and creativity of children.

With each issue, the magazine distributes 2500 copies in Aleppo, Hama, Idlib and refugee camps in Turkey. SMART, a media development NGO, helped in printing and distributing the last two issues, as the magazine faces mounting financial hardships.

Since its founding in August 2013, the magazine has not received any permanent funding, and relies mostly on contributions from its own members or from one of its partners, the Ghourbal Magazine.