British writer, a UN Goodwill Ambassador, hopes to highlight plight of Syrians trapped in Lebanon LONDON: British writer Neil Gaiman has launched a new video campaign with the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to help raise funds for Syrian refugees, as part of the commission’s Winter Appeal. Gaiman, a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador since 2017, released the video, featuring him reading a poem he wrote called “What You Need to Be Warm.” The poem draws attention to the plight of refugees, as animations in the video, created by more than 900 people, from artists to schoolchildren, depict the hardships many face. The appeal will mainly try to raise funds for Syrians in Lebanon. Gaiman told the Independent that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had worsened the situation for many refugees, especially those in the Middle East facing a difficult winter. “It’s very easy when you are dealing with your own nightmares and your own problems — and all of us are dealing with them through 2020 — to forget that there are people out there who have less than you and who need help and who are now having to cope with things like COVID in camps,” he said. “I think this is, in a lot of ways, the hardest time of all. That was why I loved the idea of us taking the poem I wrote about warmth … and going ‘okay, well, we did a thing about the cold and winter and refugees and this year, it’s worse’,” he added. “It’s not like any of that is better than it was in winter of 2019. Everything now is 10 times worse, 50 times worse, 100 times worse. So, let’s see what we can do to fix it or at least improve it in some way.” Gaiman first traveled to the region to raise awareness of the issues faced by refugees in 2014. “I’ve been banging the drum now for refugees for seven years or more,” he said. “I wound up going in 2014 to Jordan and seeing the camps up close and … talking to refugees and that was life-changing. I came away, there are photos of me coming away from there with this sort of thousand-yard stare. I just realised for myself how incredibly fragile civilisation is.