Our new video, above, was inspired by the much-loved children’s book Harold and the Purple Crayon. In the book, a small, intrepid boy takes himself on a night time adventure, following a moon and path of his own invention.
With a simple purple line, drawn by Harold’s hand, the story unfolds across an ocean, over a mountain, through a city and back, finally, to Harold’s house and the comfort of his own bed.
It’s a story of immense possibility and the power of children to imagine — and create — a world that suits them, a world anchored by the safety and security of home.
We’ve been thinking a lot about that world lately as the brutal fighting in Syria drags on. It has affected more than four million children: Many have seen their homes bombed, their schools reduced to rubble, their communities destroyed. More than half of the 1.6 million refugees who have fled the country are children. Home for them now may be a tent on a sweltering plain in Jordan or a dank room in an abandoned building in Lebanon.
But what if home could be the place that children imagine? What if a simple line drawn by a child’s hand could lead us all to believe in that place, too, and to invest in the future of the children of Syria? In the video above, Harold and his purple crayon inspired us to ask that question — of ourselves and of you. We hope you’ll watch and share the message.
Written by Coco McCabe – Oxfam America
You can create a better future for the children of Syria by donating to our Syria Crisis Appeal today.