Syrian children struggle in refugee camps as winter tightens its grip

In Al Qaem, Iraq, the anger and despair of the refugees is palpable. Two refugee camps have been set up there, nine miles from the border with Syria. As Save the Children's Country Director, I made the dangerous 280-mile journey out to Al Qaem to help with our distribution of urgently needed newborn kits and to hear the stories of the families.

Although in numbers they are fewer than their counterparts in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, their suffering and needs are no less pronounced, especially given their low profile, the extreme challenges that organizations are facing in reaching them, the lack of funding and the minimal services in the area. Save the Children is one of very few organizations supporting the more than 8,000 Syrian refugees living in very difficult circumstances in this hardly accessible area in the far western corner of Iraq.

Um Ahmed's daughters and their friends fill the tent with their stories of children's dirty clothes, of not showering in more than four weeks, of water too muddy to even make tea.

The baby is crying. Her cheeks are swollen and yellowish as are those of many of the older children. "Al Sfar" (jaundice), confirms Um Ahmed. She says the clinic offers no help. One mother hugs her 3-year-old daughter. "I'm just watching my child get sicker every day and there is nothing I can do."

Another woman, Intisar, wordlessly pulls the base of the tent out to show me how damp the gravel is under the tent. "It seeps into those sponge mattresses, into our bones, into our skin. There is no way of staying warm or dry." Her husband shows me the deep crevice dug by their resident rats. "All night they crawl under us, trying to get warmth. The children scream, and I spend all night beating the rats out."

As I walk out, the tears rise in me. It hurts to look into the despair on the children's faces, to see a toddler barefoot on the gravel. There is so much that needs to be done. Without support these children truly suffer. As winter tightens its grip on Syria's neighboring countries, stories like those I heard in Al Qaem are far from unique.

UNHCR estimates that the number of refugee children in the region has surpassed 250,000, and that number continues to climb. They lack medical care, adequate food, warmth and clean water. In Al Qaem, Save the Children has already provided hygiene kits for all families, 430 newborn kits and is helping 520 children through the child-friendly spaces. Regionally, Save the Children has reached 80,000 children and families so far and is working to triple our response in Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan.

As with all other organizations responding to the humanitarian needs of the Syrian refugees in the region, our greatest challenge is funding. We are on the ground. We have established operations in Al Qaem, which is no small feat. We are ready to deliver aid immediately but we need the funds to make it happen.