Hi John - As I've watched the horrific events in Syria unfold over the last week, I can’t help but think about the children I met while visiting a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan a few weeks ago. There, I met many kids like Rana*, a four-year-old refugee whose family had to flee from violence in Syria and now lives in the Zaatari Refugee Camp. In Syria, Rana and her family experienced bombings, air strikes and shootings daily. Her parents decided it was too dangerous for her to go to school and soon fled Syria for the relative safety of the refugee camp. The camp is located just 7 miles away from the Syrian border and is flooded with refugees living in delicately held-together shacks. But, mixed in these neighborhoods were Save the Children’s colorful and vibrant Early Learning Centers. These centers gave three and four-year-olds, like Rana, a place to be kids and the opportunity to learn in a safe environment. The sad reality is that not every child impacted by war gets the opportunity to receive an education. Around the world, schools are being deliberately bombed, torched and destroyed. In 2018 alone, there were 1,023 attacks on schools verified by the United Nations. In Syria, more than half of school-age children are out of school. No child deserves to live with that fear. All children should be able to safely attend school. It’s time for Congress to act to protect children’s ability to attend school – even in war zones and refugee camps. In addition to its educational value, school provides a sense of normalcy and helps children recover from trauma. Please join me in asking your members of Congress to support a bipartisan resolution that condemns attacks on education and underscores the importance of safe schools for children living in conflict zones. To tell stories like Rana’s, this week we’ve launched our Stop the War on Children Week of Action. All around the country, volunteers are organizing photo galleries featuring children’s stories. At these events, people are signing postcards to Congress urging them to support this bipartisan resolution. With violence heating up again in Syria, and with nearly 1 in 5 children around the world living in conflict zones, it’s more important now than ever before that we act to ensure these kids have access to safe and quality education. The resolution calls on the U.S. government to: - Hold perpetrators of attacks on schools, students and teachers accountable;
- Support policies and programs to return refugee girls and boys to learning as soon as possible;
- Monitor attacks on schools, students and teachers to support coordinated diplomacy and programs.
Please ask your members of Congress to support children’s access to safe schools! Together, we can ensure children living in conflict zones have access to a safe school that secures their futures and protects them from harm! Thank you for being a voice for kids, | 
