Qatar mourns over Aleppo

In the light of recent crimes against the people of Syria, the government announced through various media outlets the cancellation of several national day celebrations and festivities for all tribes.

While I personally believe that development must go on regardless of the challenges in the region, the situation in Syria is in dire need for awareness and calls for action. Cancelling the national day festivities is a strong message from the government to Qataris and to the world that we simply cannot ignore the crimes that take place in Syria.

We can no longer celebrate unity while people are killing each other in neighboring countries. In fact, cancelling the festivities made me think about how linked we should all be to the innocent souls in Syria and the diaspora.

We are all devastated to silently witness the events in Syria, and I bet a lot of people feel helpless regardless of how much we donate and pray as a form of relief to the victims of war crimes and civil wars.

However, witnessing our leadership exercise their power to express solidarity brings back hope, revives a new identity that we are connected as human beings with our brothers and sisters in Syria.

Next steps?

What Qatar needs to do now is to figure a way to trigger the community in engaging with regional crisis. Charity organizations are doing a great deal of work but awareness is still needed among youth.

We need to prepare our youth and educate them on the causes and effects of war crimes and start exploring solutions. Donations are important, but it will be pointless if the same mistakes are repeated again.

Want to help Aleppo? Here's a list of things you can do to help.