"I left Syria as a child, clutching my schoolbooks, searching for safety, and thinking home would never be a reality for me again. Last week, I again returned to my country not as a refugee, but as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. And yet the moment I landed in Damascus, I was that girl from Daraa again, carrying the same questions millions of Syrian children still carry: will I be safe? Will I be able to learn? Will I have a future?
"These are questions that don't go away. They are questions millions of Syrian children carry. But now, we are starting to have answers.
"In a classroom in rural Damascus, I met a girl I will call Tala. She is 18 years old. She told me she had been displaced three times before her tenth birthday. Each time, her education was interrupted. Each time, she had to start again. When I looked at her, I saw my younger self with the same fears, the same hopes, the same fierce determination to learn.
"Tala is not an exception. A recent UNICEF survey found that one in three Syrian adolescents aged 15 to 19 has been displaced at least twice, with the search for safety the most common reason for fleeing. For these children, school is not just a place to learn. It is protection. It is stability. It is hope.
"Syria stands at a pivotal moment. Across the country, I witnessed something I did not expect to feel so strongly: hope. There is a renewed sense of determination among parents, teachers, young people and local authorities to rebuild. Progress is visible. Communities are coming back together.
"But that hope is fragile. While large-scale fighting has reduced in some areas, children still face daily risks from explosive remnants of war, damaged infrastructure and overstretched services. Nearly 1,000 explosive ordnance incidents have been recorded, resulting in close to 1,800 casualties - among them, at least 193 children killed, and 466 children injured.
"The scale of what children have endured is staggering. More than four million Syrians remain internally displaced outside camps. Another 1.35 million live in camps. One in four Syrians lives in extreme poverty, and two thirds of the population fall below the lower-middle-income poverty line.
"And yet, in every community I visited, I saw young people who refused to be defined by what they had lost. They spoke with strength and dignity. They do not see themselves as victims. They see themselves as the future of Syria.
"Young people across this country reminded me of the jasmine that grows throughout Syria: resilient, rooted and determined to bloom again. Like jasmine that grows even in the harshest conditions, Syria's children continue to rise.
"But resilience should never have to replace support and investment. And right now, millions of children are being asked to be strong without the resources they so desperately need.
"Education remains the most urgent priority. Without safety, children cannot learn. Without school, there is no future. Yet millions of Syrian children remain out of school because the facilities were damaged or destroyed, because their families are too poor, because they were displaced again and again.
"In Sbeineh, some 14 kilometers south of Damascus, I met 18-year-old Fatima, who was displaced in Aleppo for many years and struggled to continue her studies. Now, with peace consolidating its path across Syria, she managed to return to her community and back to school, inspired by the possibility to contribute to a new future for her country. Fatima dreams of becoming a doctor to treat sick children, so she can help prevent their suffering.
"But the situation remains very challenging and not all girls are lucky as Fatima. Many classrooms are overcrowded and children are being pulled into labour just to help their families survive. Girls are especially at risk of dropping out, of early marriage, of losing the future they deserve. When girls learn, families recover faster, communities grow stronger, and economies improve. Investing in girls' education is investing in Syria's recovery, and I urge the international community to step forward and do this.
International investment is imperative to strengthen recovery and reconstruction across Syria. Sustained support is foundational to restore systems to deliver essential basic services, like education, water and sanitation, health, nutrition, social welfare, and social protection. Syrians cannot do this alone.
"UNICEF is working across Syria and in neighbouring countries to reach these children. We are rehabilitating schools, restoring water systems, providing health and nutrition services, supporting mental health and psychosocial care, and helping children return to learning.
"With local partners on the ground, we are also investing in skills development, vocational training and employment pathways for young people - because Syria's recovery will be built by its youth.
"What struck me most on this visit is that young people here are not waiting for help. They are ready to rebuild their country. They are not asking for charity. They are asking for opportunity - for education, for skills, for a seat at the table where decisions about their futures are being made.
"But here is the hard truth: the funding gap is now one of the biggest threats to Syrian children. Needs remain immense, while funding is declining. We know what works. We know how to rehabilitate schools, restore essential services and support children's recovery. What we lack is the sustained investment to do it at scale.
"Recovery requires predictable, long-term funding, not short-term fixes. As Syria transitions from emergency to recovery, support must be flexible, so partners can strengthen national systems and move beyond stopgap responses. Without that investment, the progress I witnessed will not hold.
"Let me be clear: Syria is not only a story of needs. It is a story of potential. Every young person I met on this mission confirmed that. This country's greatest resource is its people, and its children and youth are ready to drive recovery and growth, if given the chance. They must be at the heart of its recovery and reconstruction.
"This generation of Syrian children should not inherit the hardships of the past. They should not relive the cycle of loss and displacement that defined my childhood and the childhoods of millions of others.
"For me, this visit was a homecoming, but it was a homecoming with a purpose. I returned to Syria to listen to children, to amplify their voices, and to carry their message to the world: they have not given up on their future, and we must not give up on them.
"Peace and safety are not privileges. They are the starting point for every child's future. Every child in Syria deserves to grow up safe, to learn, to dream and to rebuild. That is their right, and it is our responsibility to make it a reality.
"We must keep Syria seen not forgotten."
