UNICEF has handed over control of its Twitter account to Syrian refugee children living in Turkey, Jordan and Austria.

On Thursday, the @UNICEF account was run by young people aged between 14 and 17, giving them an extraordinary opportunity to broadcast their stories to the world.

It was part of a global campaign to raise awareness about young people seeking a better life, looking to rebuild their house, and being allowed to engage with affluent people in the West.

The conflict in Syria is in its fifth year, and continues to destroy the lives of millions of children.

In Syria, two million children are out of school and 50,000 teachers have fled. Health services have been decimated, and Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan currently host 4 million Syrian refugees.

Each Syrian child has a story to tell, and that is why UNICEF handed over its Twitter account to four Syrian children.

Aged between 14 and 17 – and now living in Turkey, Jordan and Austria – Youssef, Omaymah, Anhal, and Hanin each spent an hour sharing their stories and helping draw attention to the impact of the conflict in Syria on the lives of so many millions of children.

Their stores are lessons in hardship, hope, humility, humanity, destruction, death and desire for a better world.

They speak of their experiences on the arduous journey to Europe, and their wish to return home (or find a new one), rebuild their lives and live in the peace many in the West take for granted.

The stories of sixteen-year-old Anhal, who now lives in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, are accessible here.

Youssef, a seventeen-year-old Syrian now living in Turkey tells his tale here. 

Omaymah, just fourteen years old and living in Za’atari camp, told of the deadly struggle to flee her war-torn home. 

Hanin, now sixteen years old and living in Austria, left her home when it was destroyed by a bomb blast when she was just thirteen. She tells of her fearful past and hopeful future here.