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This painting is located on a wall of a local school in the city. It reinforces the importance of continuing education. A teacher points to the school and the text says: “We must unite to compensate our children for the education they have lost.”

Ain Issa is city located in northwest Syria, in the Tel Abyad district of Raqqa province. In July 2015, the Kurdish People's Protection Units captured the city from ISIS. Although the city still suffers from its time under ISIS and the fighting between ISIS and YPG forces, life has started to return to the city. Recently, New Horizons For Ain Issa (NHFAI), a local civil society organization, started a local campaign called “Together, We Can Color Our City” with the aim of removing ISIS logos in Ain Issa city, located about 70 km northeast of Raqqa. The campaign includes drawing pictures about education, waste removal, rationing water use, and removing markers of the conflict in addition to rebuilding the main traffic roundabouts in this city. Most of the members of New Horizons for Ain Issa are residents of the city.

This photo illustrates maintaining a clean and safe environment for the community and shows a drawing of a boy and girl picking up and cleaning garbage. (Text translation: To create a future for ourselves, the first step for a beautiful city is a clean one.)
This photo focuses on the idea of rationing water use and is found at the main entrance of city. (Text translation: Do not be wasteful of water even if you live on a river.)
Women contributed to the painting of this wall mural to support local community efforts.
Local flyer to encourage people to work together to rebuild the city. “It needs another hand. Hand in hand, we build our country anew, always working so we can build faster, and create a better country.”
A local community campaign to repaint the city and paint over ISIS flags, billboards, and painting sidewalks.
Local members of NHFAI repainting sidewalks bright colors in contrast to ISIS colors.
Local flyer to educate the community about mines leftover from ISIS. “A mine is a weapon that contains a quantity of explosive material encased in an outer shell (metal, wood, or plastic) and equipped with an explosive device used to kill people or destroy machines. When you see a strange object, contact the appropriate authorities immediately.”
This photo was painted by a member of NHFAI, Zelien al-Yassin. The purpose of this photo is to express the end of war in the city and how the children can help remove the remnants of it. (Text translation: Yes, explosive weapons are dangerous. If you see a strange object, contact the appropriate authorities immediately.)