Terrified kids treated by doctors in embattled Mosul after being caught up in fight against ISIS – and you can help them
The Sun is supporting Amar Foundation doctors and aid workers on the frontline as they help save Iraq's young kids
PAIN etched on his face, a young Iraqi lad is treated by two doctors after he became the latest child caught up in the fight for Mosul.
Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting to kick ISIS out of the city are carefully trying to avoid making civilians the casualties of war.
But youngsters are inevitably the silent victims of a brutal fight for the city of 1.5million people.
Many thousands more innocents have been wounded, maimed or even killed amid the fighting.
One foundation is there on the frontline battling to save Iraq's vulnerable children - and you can support them through The Sun's Smiles at Christmas campaign.
helps to provide training for doctors treating innocents on the frontline.
It also helps feed civilians starving as war rages around them.
A £30 donation is enough to feed an entire family for one week.
Many of those families are being torn apart each day.
Heartbreaking images from the Rojava Hospital see young children watch on as medics battle to save their gravely-wounded parents.
The horrors of war are a sight no child should have to witness.
But those in Mosul see its reality every day.
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One Amar Foundation worker said: "Many of the children have forgotten how to play."
Its brave work on the frontline has helped to provide nearly FIVE MILLION doctor's consultations since 2005 - many to the world's most desperate kids.
That's why The Sun is supporting the Amar Foundation's life-saving work as part of its Smiles at Christmas campaign.
You can help bring a smile to the face of children in Mosul by donating at our JustGiving page .
'I get nightmares about the bombs'
TOUSLED-haired Hijram Hassy seems happy enough, but her mother tells a different story.
“She wakes up screaming in the night as if she can hear the bombs again,” says mum Wahbia.
Eight-year-old Hijram’s family cowered for ten days in a tent as Iraqi forces battled to run ISIS out of Mosul.
“We were trapped, with food and water running out,” says mum-of-five Wahbia, 30. “The children were crying in fear. A mortar killed five of our sheep.”
The family escaped to a camp, where they got help in a clinic run by Britain’s Amar International Charitable Foundation. The centre sees 500 people a day. One worker said many of the traumatised children have “forgotten how to play”.
Amar — founded in 1991 by Lady Emma Nicholson — uses locals to give aid, treatment and education for children and adults.
Baroness Nicholson says: “I can assure Sun readers that donations will go straight to helping these poor people. It would be a marvellous way to show the spirit of Christmas.”
A donation of £30 buys a family food for a week.
Asked about the future, smiling Hijram says: “I have awful nightmares but I want to forget the bad times. I want to go to school and be a teacher.
Give cash
Online:
Text: To give £2, text KIDS55 2 to 70070. You can change the amount to £3, £4, £5 or £10 by changing the last figure to 3, 4, 5 or 10.
Post: Send a cheque, made payable to JustGiving Foundation, to JustGiving The Sun Appeal, Bluefin Building 2nd Floor, London SE1 0TA
Give toys
You can donate new or used toys in good condition at 1,370 branches of McColl’s convenience stores.
Toys “R” Us will accept new toys only — look for special Sun trolleys near entrances.
Tell pals
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Or tweet using #SmilesAtChristmas to let us know how you’re getting involved!