A friend of mine was born in Ethiopia during the time of the Ethiopian Civil War.  Both her parents died during that time and a result left her and her siblings as orphans.  Though this would be devastating to most, she said she has hardly any recollection of them (she was 5 at the time).  She told me that she does not remember anything prior to the day that a man walked over to her and her sisters and told them they would be coming to live with him and his wife. From there, they relocated to Germany and she remembers growing up in a loving and warm home.  As a result of losing her parents early, she has made a point of being a part of every aspect of her children's lives.  She says that she never knows when her last day will be and she wants her children to remember the best about her.

One region of the world that I am interested in knowing more about is Syria.  For nearly seven years, the war in Syria has taken the lives of millions of people and approximately one million children have been orphaned due to this (Javaid, 2017).  To me, this is more than a Syrian problem; it is a human problem.  Some of the images that I will never be able to get out of my head are that of the little boy whose body had washed ashore after he drowned and that of another little boy who was sitting in an ambulance after an air-strike caused damage to his home.  I often wonder what has to be done to put a stop to things while preventing more mass casualties of the citizens there.  And how far is too far when other nations get involved in solving problems that are occurring in other countries.  That may step a little bit into the political realm but it is seriously something to think about.

Javaid, O. B. (2017).  A million children orphaned by the Syrian war.  Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/syria-unicef-warns-dangers-facing-war-orphans-171115165757024.html