Helping Children in War and Crisis
Through Their Eyes
What is it like to be a child in a crisis? Nearly a quarter of the world’s children live in a conflict zone. And nearly 1 billion children live in parts of the world that are vulnerable to climate-change-related crises. Here’s what it’s like to experience a crisis through their eyes, from the first moments to years after the crisis begins.
Trigger warning/disclaimer: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence endured by children in war, children in crisis, children in conflict and children in extreme-weather events. Please use personal caution as these descriptions may be upsetting.
Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine being in the middle of a war or a crisis. Now, imagine being a child in the middle of that war or crisis. Every moment, every minute, every hour, every day could mean the difference between life and death.
Here’s what that’s like, based on interviews our staff has conducted, as well as what we’re able to do thanks to donors who support our Children in Crisis Response Fund (CICRF).
FIRST MOMENTS of a crisis
The earth feels alive.
There’s a soft thump, then a whoosh of wind. Dense white smoke wafts up.
There’s screaming, wailing and confusion.
IN MINUTES
A parent grabs their child’s hand as they run, leaving everything behind. Sharp stones stab the undersides of their rubber slippers or bare feet.
Dust settles inside their noses. Their vision blurs.
Entire buildings fall like leaves.
A siren shrills out and the sound of children crying punctures the chaos.
HOURS LATER
A child doesn’t understand. They ask their mother when they can go home. She can’t answer because she doesn’t know.
Joints ache and hunger takes hold. Acid sloshes around, burning inside their stomachs. They look for water, food and – if they’re lucky – a place to sleep.
Nowhere feels safe. There is no settling into a warm bed.
This is the new reality for a child in crisis.
In their own words
You are always afraid, day and night. I ask myself: In case a bomb hits and I am sleeping next to the wall, will it protect me, or will it fall on me?”– Fatima*, 23, from Gaza, through her diary excerpt
*Fatima is a pseudonym, which we have used at her request.
How donors help us respond
Children and families need support immediately when disaster or conflict strikes – both life-saving care and the assurance that reliable help is there or soon on the way. And emergency response teams must be able to reach them quickly.
Plan International is one of the organizations that has managed to send aid through the only crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip – an extremely challenging scenario. We have sent first-aid kits, cartons of water and food baskets with ready-to-eat meals. And our Children in Crisis Response Fund (CICRF) donors helped make this possible.
What is the Children in Crisis Response Fund?
The Children in Crisis Response Fund (CICRF) helps give aid to children in war, children in conflict and children who are suffering because of extreme-weather events like droughts and cyclones. The fund helps front-line workers and country offices of Plan International send aid as soon as possible anywhere a crisis strikes.
“It helps us respond to any crisis where there’s a humanitarian need,” says Jessica Capasso, director of humanitarian and emergency assistance at Plan International Canada. “We’re able to commit funding to impacted countries right away within the first phase of the emergency response. This is critical to really enable us to respond to people’s needs as soon as possible.”
DAYS AFTER A CRISIS
A child is sandwiched among people being registered at a refugee camp. Some children are separated from their parents – some have permanently lost one or both.
They are still wearing the clothes from the first day they fled, now crusted in mud and sticky with sweat. They’re assigned to a small tent, which they might share with dozens of people.
When there’s enough water, they wash themselves as best as they can. More than a hundred people share one bathroom. Girls run out of sanitary pads and use scraps of cloth, paper or leaves instead.
There is no privacy and no rest. Everyone is exhausted. Everyone is on edge.
In their own words
We had nowhere to run. Water was coming from all directions. We were trapped. One of the biggest challenges for us is the lack of sanitary pads. For now, we have to endure until help arrives.”– Lucy, 17, who sheltered in a school in Kenya after intense flooding
How we help children in crisis situations
Plan International helps children get what they urgently need, such as food, water and supplies – including what girls need to take care of their menstrual health. We distribute dignity kits filled with things like soap, underwear and pads.
Our teams also provide materials for temporary shelters (e.g., tarps and rope), work to reunite children who have been separated from their families and help protect those who are isolated or orphaned.
We distribute purification tablets that ensure water is safe to drink. This, along with sanitation support like access to hand-washing stations and latrines, helps stop diseases such as cholera and typhoid, which can cause a second wave of deadly risk for those clustered in camps.
This is what donors who support the CICRF help us continue to do.
I see suffering which is unprecedented, and I see it almost every day. It is important to recognize that every little bit of help actually helps people... So it’s not an option to not do anything.”– Dr. Unni Krishnan, global humanitarian director at Plan International
WEEKS IN
A child and their mother have been surviving on dried and canned food. But now, even that is scarce.
Children have little to do all day, with no books, toys or games on hand. Girls become more at risk of early marriage as families look to alleviate food and financial burdens and parents may feel it can give their daughter and remaining children the best chance at survival. In times like these, children can be abused, forced to work and exploited – sometimes in exchange for the basics to stay alive, like food.
In their own words
We beg neighbours for food. We have not eaten today because there is no food. We need food… I want the war to stop so I can go back home.”– Adan, 10, who lives in a transit centre in South Sudan after fleeing conflict
How we help support displaced families
Our teams work to make sure cooking supplies such as pots for boiling, oil, flour and other provisions are available for families.
We prioritize introducing important safety measures for girls, helping share information about their rights and about preventing, identifying and reporting violations like trafficking.
Protecting childhoods is pivotal – and that also means encouraging play. In times of crisis, it’s crucial to help children feel a renewed sense of their normal routine. So we form child-friendly spaces as a place of respite. Here, you might find children giggling together, listening to books read aloud by staff or playing with colourful blocks.
“Right away, we establish child-friendly spaces, because that provides a safe environment where children can play and learn, and it helps support their resilience and well-being. That needs to happen very early in the aftermath of a crisis,” says Capasso.
In Haiti, CICRF donors are helping support children and their families after a spike in gang violence over the last several months led to the displacement of more than 54,000 people. In two weeks alone, more than 15,000 people, including upwards of 3,000 children, were forced to flee their homes. Through the CICRF, our teams will be able to reach many of those in need with emergency cash assistance, supplies and safe shelter spaces.
MONTHS AND YEARS ON
After moving to a new host community, a child still hears explosions that aren’t there.
They jump up at loud noises, remember what they saw in those first moments and feel afraid. They finally start going to school regularly. It has been months, so writing and reading is hard, and it is difficult to focus.
How we help provide long-term solutions for a better future
Our Children in Crisis Response Fund has helped children and families affected by the attacks on Gaza. In Egypt, we’re working to bring essential supplies into Gaza. In Lebanon, we are supporting people displaced from southern Lebanon. Our team in Jordan is supporting local groups in Gaza to provide hot meals while also supporting people living in Jordan, who have family in Gaza and are under stress as many of their family members are stuck in Gaza.
In Ukraine, Plan International has helped youth resume their education to ensure that their growth and future prospects can stay on course. Our temporary learning spaces and activities give children the safety and support to speak about and work through the traumatic experiences they’ve had; this might involve storytelling and art as cathartic expression. Our programs also help survivors secure mental health counselling so they may begin healing.
Plan also helps communities rebuild in a literal sense. This means providing cash payments and shelter repair kits to help repair homes or build more resilient community structures such as clean water systems – for example, those that reached hundreds of thousands of people affected by earthquakes in Syria in 2023.
What’s next for the Children in Crisis Response Fund?
In addition to supporting those affected by recent dangerous clashes in Haiti, the CICRF will be used to help Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad. It will reach families living in camps along the border and support children’s education by establishing schools and recruiting and training teachers.
“At the moment, [the CICRF is] one of the only sources of funding our team has to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of children fleeing to Chad. Likewise, our funding will be critical in Haiti, where our team is responding to a massive crisis that is largely neglected by the international community,” says Capasso.
She says that crises around the world, even in countries that were previously considered stable, are increasing. There are more coups, protests and violence in remote areas – even schools being burnt down – which often go unreported by the media. We have seen more conflict and war in the last two years than we had seen since the end of the Cold War.**
And climate change is making the fallout of already-dire crises like war and conflict even worse. Half of the world’s population lives in areas at risk of extreme-weather events caused by climate change. One billion children are at critical risk.
“We’re seeing more climate-induced crisis, flipping back and forth between flooding and droughts and then flooding. They seem to be happening more. Every year it seems to be surpassing the previous year, and at the same time, the funding is not there,” says Capasso.
“Having this reliable source of funding [CICRF] is really key. Being able to say to a country office, ‘We have some money for you; start responding’ – that means they can start meeting people’s needs right away.”
**According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, which works out of the Swedish Uppsala University and has been tracking wars and conflicts around the world since 1945
How you can continue to help
And learn more about how you can help protect children caught in crises around the world today.
Other times we’ve helped children through crises
*Aleya is a pseudonym, which we have used at her request.
When there's chaos or conflict, we let the humanitarian principles guide us in supporting as many people as we can.
Millions of children live in conflict zones. Many of them are also affected by extreme weather events. Learn how you can help.
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