Feature: Choir project to ease woes of Syrian refugee children in Lebanon

Amina as-Saeed, a 13-year-old Syrian refugee, considers herself "a new human being" after successfully participating in a choir project aiming at supporting the Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

As-Saeed, among 95 Syrian refugee children who were forcibly displaced to Lebanon due to the ongoing war in their home country, took part on Sunday in a concert at the As-Safadi Theater in the northern port city of Tripoli, and chanted for peace, security and love.

The Sunbula (Spike) Choir project was launched by the Sunbula non-governmental organization, which is engaged in providing aid and support for the Syrian refugees in Lebanon in cooperation with an Austrian aid agency.

"My participation in the choir changed my attitude and turned me into a new human being," as-Saeed told Xinhua, adding that "I loved singing since my childhood but circumstances were against me and now the opportunity is here and I would not let it fly."

"I will sing and let my voice reach everywhere so the whole world would come to the help of Syrian children," she said.

Before attending the stage, as-Saeed spent 10 months of training with her fellow children under the supervision of Lebanese-International Maestro Barkev Taslakian.

Taslakian, a Lebanese Christian Armenian, trained the Syrian children on the basics of singing (solfege or Musical notes) and the oriental music.

His success with the Syrian children was revealed when the attendees of the concert expressed astonishment and praised the choir for the recital it gave.

The choir interpreted Lebanese folklore songs from the famous Fairouz, and was loudly applauded when it was joined on stage by the well-known artist Omaima al-Khalil in singing her hits.

Taslakian told the audience "this choir is not yet on the top, but is certainly a world choir project, and I promise you that in two years it would compete with well-known international ones."

All the participating children were chosen from the Syrian refugee camps in the Bekaa and northern Lebanon's districts with ages ranging from 8 to 14.

For technical reasons, the launching of the first recital was moved from Beirut to Tripoli.

Ahed al-Mohammad, a 14-year-old singer, told Xinhua that "this is a great work that helped me become another person. I feel that I am now important in the society."

Massa Hamoui, head of Sunbula aid organization, for her part, told Xinhua that the aim of the project is to help those children discover their talents and support them psychologically during the ordeal they are endeavoring.

"We worked hard and the result in this short period was higher than we expected," she said, adding that the "children had a dramatic change of attitude and personality and became more open and engaged in social work."

According to the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees, Lebanon hosts more than 1.2 million Syrian refugees, with children and women representing 50 percent. Endit