Syria "I really enjoy learning maths and Arabic”, Salma said. “I made two friends, and I want to continue coming here. I love my teacher, and I want to become one myself in the future." 12-year-old Salma grew up in a village in southern Syria, living a peaceful, tranquil life with her friends and family until tragedy struck. She had barely finished second grade when the events of the Syrian crisis began to unravel, changing her life forever.

Brandi & Tom Cookin' For A Cause Saturday October 14th 6pm - 9pm at the Hot Stove Society in Seattle, WA.   In recognition of a very important campaign of Brandi Carlile’s Looking Out Foundation, Tom and Brandi are combining talents to cook you dinner and raise money for War Child. War Child is an organization devoted to supporting children affected by conflict. Brandi is using a new release of her 2007 album, The Story, which now features covers of her songs by some of her awesome talented friends (including Adele, Pearl Jam and Dolly Parton) to generate the money for the The Story Campaign. Every artist that contributed to Cover Stories donated their time, so all proceeds from the sale of the record go to The Story Campaign benefiting War Child.  An intimate evening at Hot Stove Society will be an important part of the fundraising. Tom created the menu and will demo and engage Brandi as his sous chef and cocktail specialist. There will be a meet and greet with Brandi at 6 followed by a short presentation on Cover Stories and The Story Campaign. Cooking and delicious tastes starts at 6:45. After dinner there will be a short musical performance. Dessert and mingling at 8:30. This will be a fun-filled, inspiring evening, and we hope you can attend. 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit War Child. If you have a question about this class or would like to be put on a wait list, contact [email protected] and include the name and date of the class with your question. Limited availability - get your tickets now and help us reach our $1 million fundraising goal for The Story Campaign!#cookinforacuase

Uganda "Children like us are just left. People think that there is no hope for us and that we are useless because there is no help we can give to the community." The nearest school is 10km away. There's no proper roads, and no bus to take you there. And you're blind. Which way would you start walking? Okello's future looked pretty dark.

  NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to Brandi Carlile, whose new album features covers of her songs by the likes of Dolly Parton and Pearl Jam. The proceeds are designated for children in conflict zones.

NPR All Songs +1: Brandi Carlile Reflects On 10 Years Of 'The Story'  

  Since War Child's inception, music has been central to the charity, from raising awareness about children's lives being severely affected by war, to raising money through albums and concerts.

Syria "My dream is that Syria will be beautiful again." The conflict in Syria is old news now. But there’s a human story underneath each of these airstrikes and at the end of each sniper’s barrel. Eleven year old Maryam’s is just one of them.

  "We're promoting a dialogue between people from the North, South and the U.K., and we're asking if we can depoliticize children and talk about compassion. That's what I hope [the project] accomplishes." #CoverStories

  “If there is one thing I want to achieve with this record – of course I want it to achieve fundraising and awareness – but I really want the diversity of voices on this album to create a scenario where we stop politicizing babies and children and talking about them like they are commodities instead of human beings who we have a higher calling to protect.” - Brandi Carlile