Japanese Comic raises hope for Syrian refugee children

CAIRO – 16 July 2017: 'Captain Tsubasa', a popular Japanese manga (comic) involving football, has found a new audience amongst Syria's refugee children, whose hopes and dreams have been reinvigorated by the manga.

It all began with the effort of Syrian college student Obada Kassoumah, who fled Syria before the war broke out, studying in a university at Tokyo. It was there that he got the idea to begin translating a story he loved as a child, Captain Tsubasa, to help the Syrian children directly affected by the still on-going crisis in their home country. As he tells BBC news, Kassoumah wanted them to still have hopes and dreams even despite their broken spirits, as it is their dreams that could one day rebuild Syria.

What had begun as a simple translation job for him became a deeply personal mission for Kassoumah.

Written by manga artist Yoichi Takahashi, Captain Tsubasa tells the story of a young boy who dreams of becoming the greatest football player in the world, refusing to let anything stop him. The manga first premiered in 1981, and has since gone on to sell over 82 million copies worldwide, securing a spot amongst the best-selling manga of all time. The story's immense popularity can be attributed to its fun, stylized and impossible portrayals of football, making the sport seem larger than life and capturing the limitless, imaginative fun children have.

Stories can help us escape our troubles and even find solutions to them, and Captain Tsubasa's message of never giving up your dream could inspire Syrian children to fight for a better future.