Game of Thrones star champions Syrian refugees

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

For release 00.01, October 11, 2016

Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth in the HBO epic-fantasy phenomenon) has visited Syrian refugee camps with leading humanitarian agency World Vision – and emerged a passionate advocate for Syria’s refugees.

The Irish actor said his preconceptions about Syria’s almost-5 million refugees had been “completely blown out of the water” by his visit to refugee camps.

“I have an enormous anger about what’s happening in Syria, the injustice of it, the disgusting behaviour of the various parties involved,” he said.

But he had also seen in Syria’s refugee children a lust for life and, among those caring for them, “the desire for these children not to be lost and not to have a lost generation.”

“For all the attempts to quash humanity – and don’t forget, war is about cruelty – for all the attempts to be cruel and to diminish the human spirit, I have seen it flourish here.”

Cunningham described a refugee school supported by World Vision in a camp in Jordan as an “escape” from the pressures of life as a refugee child.

“This education wasn’t just about their future, it was about their present,” he told World Vision. “It was about, it seemed to me … possibilities. Education seemed to be possibilities for them.

“It seemed to be options, it seemed to be choice, and it also seemed very much to say that ‘if we are being educated, life has returned’. This (education) is the first thing that is going to stop in a conflict and it was like the lifeblood of these magnificent people, these children. It was a real lesson for me.

“The hunger for education in this place is absolutely remarkable. They realise that without education … there is no life. They have, from a very early age, an extraordinary hunger to get back to Syria and rebuild the place, because it is their home.”

Visiting a soccer field created in the desolation of the Azraq refugee camp, in a partnership between World Vision and the English Premier League, and a kindergarten, he said, “The bottom line is that these donations are giving people dignity.”

He said the donation of just a few dollars, or euro, or yen, “translates directly into dignity and that’s the best value for money you can possibly have.”

Over the past five years of war in Syria, more than 11 million people have been affected, including 6.1 million people who are internally displaced in Syria and 4.8 million who have fled into neighbouring countries, including 2 million children. At least 270,000 people have been killed.

 

For Further information, contact Stuart Rintoul at World Vision Australia, 0407 241 492

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