The real stories behind our child refugee film

I’d been to Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan once before, so I knew what to expect: tents and plastic caravans stretching out over the small hillocks into the desert, white sand, kids everywhere playing in the dust.

I also knew what I’d hear from those I met – stories of fleeing under the cover of darkness. Leaving behind loved homes and brand new kitchens built after years of saving, fruit trees that had been in families for three generations, even the graves of deceased family members.

What I expected were people who were angry, incredulous at the injustice that they had suffered. What I found were people who were sad. Who had started to lose hope that they would ever return to the country they loved – a country just a few hours’ drive from the camp.

It was heart-breaking. It’s much easier to listen to a strong man, a patriarch, rail against the loss of his life, than to watch that man fight back uncomfortable tears.

A deepening crisis

In 2014, we released a 90-second film, Most Shocking Second a Day. It aimed to bring home to people in the UK the reality of life for children growing up in conflict-ridden countries like Syria.

The film showed a year in the life of a ten-year-old girl as violence escalated around her. It showed her fleeing explosions, sleeping rough and struggling to find food, water or proper medical care.

Two years on from that first film, the refugee crisis has deepened.

Around the world, conflict, violence and persecution have forced millions from their homes. Families are making desperate, dangerous journeys in search safety. And children – many of them alone, afraid and vulnerable – are suffering more than anyone.

Yet still they are so often overlooked.

That’s why we felt it was time to follow up on our first film, and bring the horror of theses children’s experiences into focus.

Still the Most Shocking Second a Day

Our new film, Still the Most Shocking Second a Day follows the same girl’s journey as conflict in her home country forces her to leave behind everything she knows.

Inspired by the stories of child refugees we’ve helped, the film offers an uncompromising view of the danger, fear, hardship and loss faced by children fleeing war.

It’s a reminder that the refugee crisis isn’t about ‘here’ and ‘there’. This is our world. These are our children. It’s our duty to make sure that none of them are forgotten.

Children are suffering

The refugee crisis has divided political opinion. For us, though, it’s simple: we do whatever it takes to save and protect children forced from their homes by conflict.

In Za’atari, I met Mohammed* and Yaman*, aged three and five. The farm that had been in their family for generations had become the centre of nightly gun battles. As a result, Yaman and Mohammed and their parents were forced to flee.

Yaman was so traumatised that he stopped speaking for two years, only beginning to communicate again after our staff began working with him. Mohammed now suffers from suspected epilepsy, and is struggling to find the medical help he so desperately needs.

An equal chance

These children aren’t soldiers, they aren’t political activists. They’re scared young boys in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We believe that every child should have an equal chance in life, no matter who or where they are. To make that happen we have to reach the children who are being left until last – and put them first.

Please watch the film now and share it with friends and family. Together we can make sure child refugees are not forgotten.

*Names changed to protect identities.