Week 1 has Finished + the Weather

New to this site? Here's an explanation of what I'm doing. 

On Friday, I took another amazing Yin Yoga class, then stepped outside into a warm 74 degree afternoon here in Denton. Less than 48 hours later, there's a little ice storm taking place outside! North Texas in the winter is a roller coaster, that is for sure! Our Sunday yoga and weekly 40 Day Challenge meeting at the studio have been cancelled due to the weather, so I'll be doing yoga today using my Gaiam TV subscription on my Roku. I took Saturday off from yoga (I'm allowed one rest day per week), but I did buy myself a new pair of walking/running shoes, so it wasn't a totally fitness-free day!

Looking outside into the cold weather makes me think of the difficult conditions facing refugees from Syria who are now living in refugee camps, or even worse, in the streets. A lot of people do not realize that the Levant is very cold in the winter. Average low temperatures dip below freezing, and cold rain, snow, and sleet are not uncommon. While the IRC works hard to provide winterizing kits in the places where it works, the overwhelming amount of people living in camps, in the streets, and in the harsh elements is crushing supplies for relief agencies. Moreover, a significant amount of refugees are children--at least half the refugee population is under age 18! Displaced children face grave health risks, but also lose out on their education -- this is a problem that harms the entire world. Children in war and displacement also are at risk for a variety of types of abuse, disease, malnutrition, and other hygiene and mental and physical health crises at a disproportionate level. Many families are sending their teen daughters off into arranged marriages because of the risks of sexual abuse and poverty in refugee camps. These threats are worse when winter comes. So while I sit in my warm house with the fire and crockpot going, I can't help but wonder about so many people who are freezing, scared that they will never go home, worried about keeping warm and keeping themselves and their families alive under such horrible conditions.

Look at these Syrian refugee children making a snowman in an "unofficial" refugee camp in Lebanon. You can read about this camp here. Photo from AP/Getty Images. 

Here's another photo from the same camp: 

Photo from Reuters

Thank you for reading and for your support. Please consider donating to and/or sharing my fundraiser, and please don't forget about these children and their plight. Namaste.