How children play.

Let’s have a look at how children play while they are at school.

Boys are big fans of playing soccer. There are lots of soccer fans in Iraq, and the Japanese animation “Captain Tsubasa” is a big hit. The story’s hero is Tsubasa, whose name translates into Majid in Arabic.

What girls enjoy the most is skipping. Playing tag and hide-and-seek are really enjoyed by both boys and girls.

There are other fun games that seem popular, such as “stand and sit” which is played in the classroom among all students. Similar to the Japanese “hata-age” (raising the banner) game - raise red, raise white, don’t raise white! - the teacher calls out “stand, sit, or don’t sit!” and doing the actions determines the winner.

We asked our field staff members about how Iraqi children play, and they feel that the children spend all their free time just as Japanese children do.

Safety inside schools is barely maintained, but with the security situation worsening and upsetting the children, this might be the only place where they can enjoy themselves.