Since the very beginning of the Syrian uprising, children were the victim’s of the regime’s systematic policies of terror. They have endured the biggest burden of the violence, and the lucky amongst them were those able to flee to a neighboring country as refugees. This year´s Eid al-Adha (one of the two main religious holidays celebrated by Muslims worldwide) comes at a time when many children are more worried about providing bread for their families than about receiving presents.

To deal with this, many Syrian activists have taken it upon themselves to provide as many children as possible with gifts, even if they were second-hand toys and items. To this end, they launched a campaign under the name Your Toys Are Children´s Happiness. With the help of young graduates from the faculty of fine arts, they decorated used toys and created new hand-made ones. “The toys are to be distributed among children who live in shelters or on the streets and parks of Damascus,” activist Dima Naqula said to Syria Untold.

The initiative was joined by several grassroots groups and by many individual Syrians who decided to participate, gathering toys within their own communities.

“Everyone is welcome to join and help,” Naqula explained. “However, we insist that the campaign is not politicized, since we know how often different groups with their own agendas try to take over grassroots work and use it to their benefit.” This is why activists in charge of the campaign have refused any sort of official funding, so that they can maintain their freedom and independence.

Through initiatives like “Your Toys Are Children´s Happiness,” people working on the ground continue to challenge the horror of violence and militarization by bringing a smile to the future of the country: its children.