Iraq conflict: 800,000 to a million Iraqi children have lost one or both of their parents

Iraq conflict: Crisis of an orphaned generation

A recent survey in Iraq found that between 800,000 to a million Iraqi children have lost one or both of their parents.

According to aid workers this figure is a conservative estimate of the many thousands growing up in the shadow of violence.

Twelve-year-old Saif lost both his parents in a bomb attack - in which he was also injured - in the province of Diyala in 2005.

"I don't remember what happened," he says, quietly. "I was small. A man came and took me away and afterwards told me what had happened to my mother and father. There is no life when you've lost your mother and father."

Saif is now being brought up in a private orphanage where, despite the trauma he has been through, he enjoys playing computer games and singing, and dreams of becoming an actor.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20461110#TWEET399306