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Outlook: Aleppo's Underground Orphanage

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Asmar Halabi

12/10/2016 GMT

Aleppo's Underground Orphanage

BBC World Service - Outlook, Aleppo's Underground Orphanage

Asmar Halabi looks after 50 children, most orphaned by the bombing

Aleppo's underground orphanage, Kabul's new family cinema, and a paralysed fastball umpire.

Asmar Halabi runs an orphanage in rebel held Aleppo, currently besieged by Russian and Syrian forces. The orphanage is home to 50 children, many of whose parents have been killed in the bombardment. And, it is not just the children who have lost relatives - Asmar's own father and three of his four sisters have also been killed.

At the age of 16, Trent Seymour from British Columbia in Canada, had a promising sporting career ahead of him. He was a rising star in his local fastball league - which is a sport similar to baseball. He had just helped his team to win gold for Canada at the North American Indigenous Games. But then, a day out with friends changed all that and Trent had to find another way to return to the field. 

In the Afghan capital Kabul there are not many safe places for women to go to enjoy themselves. But help is at hand. A new cinema has opened and it is aimed specifically at families. The Galaxy Family Cinema was started by a group of friends led by Abubakar Gharzai. 

When the Irish poet Katie Donovan's husband was diagnosed with throat cancer, she used verse to record her innermost feelings during his illness and eventual death. Some years later, she has now decided to publish the poems in a collection called Off Duty. In it, Katie reflects with uncompromising honesty on the effect the cancer had on her, their relationship and their two young children. 

(Photo: Asmar Halabi. Credit: Dr Zaher Sahloul)

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