An aid worker travelled from Barnet to Jordan and Lebanon to meet communities affected by the refugee crisis.

Laura Ouseley, 30, from Finchley, travelled from Barnet to Lebanon with the aid agency CAFOD in June to mark the six year anniversary of the Syrian war.

Ms Ouseley, CAFOD's world news officer, visited those who have fled their homes in Syria to find the relative safety of neighbouring countries such as Lebanon and Jordan.

She said: "The world’s attention may have moved elsewhere over the last year or so, but there are still thousands of Syrian refugees living in limbo in neighbouring countries who are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, including jobs, education and healthcare."

Ms Ouseley met a nine-year-old Syrian girl in Lebanon, who had to drop out of school to work in the fields picking vegetables to support her family, earning just $4 a day.

She added: "There are thousands more stories like this. The need to earn money is just one of many barriers keeping children out of school, and creating a lost generation of Syrian youngsters who are starting their lives with no education or training.

"I met mothers, fathers, children and grandparents, all struggling to live with dignity and support their families. Many of them told me they are longing to return to a peaceful Syria."

There are more than 250,000 Syrian children not in school, which is three times the number of children under-16 living in Barnet, and more than five million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes in the last six years.