Feature: Past happiness of Eid al-Fitr feast stirs sad feelings for many Syrians

Standing outside the fence of an amusement park in an upscale neighborhood in the capital Damascus, 10-year-old Ziad was watching other kids joyfully playing inside, a scene that reflected on his teary eyes as he recalled memories of himself in the same festive mood just four years ago.

Wearing shabby, darkened cloth, on plastic slippers, Ziad looked very haggard and worn with his lank, unbrushed hair hanging over his forehead. He was facing the chain-linked fence with his fingers clutching the metal mesh, while his sad eyes watching other kids dressed all new, enjoying themselves and laughing uncontrollably.

"I used to be as joyful as those inside, but the war has deprived me of my home and happiness and forced me to stay in a shelter," the boy said, speaking of the battles that have driven him and his parents out of the Eastern Ghouta suburb east of Damascus, which has seen intense violence during the span of the country's four-year-old conflict.

Ziad is one of thousands, probably millions, of affected children, whose childhood was ripped off by the long-lasting conflict in Syria. He said his father, who used to work in construction ahead of the conflict, now roams the streets, selling cigarettes.

The Damascenes, whose city has remained largely peaceful during the conflict, are trying to maintain the spirit of the holidays, but the spectacle of the affected people who streamed into the capital from hotbed areas is a reminder that this country has suffered a lot and the conflict has left emotional scars that are yet to heal, with children being swept into the vortex of their embittered emotions.

Usually on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, or the Feast of Breaking the Fast at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, people head to graveyards in the early morning to visit their deceased relatives, as part of a tradition followed in the Arab world.

Standing at the grave of his father in the Sheikh Khaled cemetery north of Damascus, 40-year-old Osama was bitterly crying as he was praying for the peace of his father's spirit.

"I thought I would be a better father for my sons than my father was to us... I didn't know what circumstances and hard times meant... I always blamed him for the tough childhood I had," Osama said, recounting how he has come to realize what it's like to be compelled by the tough situation and being unable to make his kids happy.

"We were poor, I admit. But there was an undeniable joy in our lives. I always thought that I would provide a better life for my kids, but here I am now searching for an affordable house to shelter them after I had lost my house in Yarmouk Camp area," Osama said, reflecting the agony of thousands of Palestinian refugees who were forced to flee the Yarmouk Camp after the ultra-radical militants swept through.

"My father used to think about the cheapest theme park to take us to, now I think about providing a comfy bed for my kids. I don't think about taking them to a swing or a Ferris wheel anymore," he said.

For the better-off Syrians in Damascus, giving their kids small sums of money to buy candies and go to theme parks is not a big deal, but observing the full traditions of the feast is not an easy task anymore, with the skyrocketing prices of sweets and foodstuffs, let alone the getaways and picnics that were the hallmarks of the feast.

The price of one kilogram of Arabic sweet increased five folds since the beginning of the crisis, pushing the Damascenes to switch to buying affordable chocolate instead.

Also, instead of buying new outfits for the occasion of Eid, a large segment of the Damascus people are opting to buy second-hand clothes from street vendors, who have mushroomed across the Damascus streets, providing affordable substitutes for many people who cannot buy brand new attires.

"Everything is still available in Damascus. The fancy cloth shops, restaurants and marketplaces are packed with goods and stuff but our pockets are not as full," said Sawsan, a mother of four, as she was strolling the Midan market in central Damascus, browsing the price tags at a sweet shop to choose the most affordable kind.

"Those small things were nothing in the past, but now every little detail in our lives must be planned carefully as my husband's salary could barely suffice our very basics," she said, gazing away with a light smile when remembering the old days when happiness was the title of Eid al-Fitr.

Sawsan said she had lived the festive mood of the Eid before, lamenting that her kids won't be able to experience the same joy amid the ongoing crisis.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a report earlier this month that the number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria to neighboring countries has now passed four million, and at least an additional 7.6 million people are displaced inside Syria -- many of them in difficult circumstances and in locations that are difficult to reach.

"This is the biggest refugee population from a single conflict in a generation. It is a population that needs the support of the world but is instead living in dire conditions and sinking deeper into poverty," the UNHCR's report said. Endit