Category

Education

Restoring Schools: Preparing Youssef Al-Azma School for 3,000 Students

By | Education, Latest News, News

Work continues on the restoration of schools damaged in the February earthquake.

Our teams are working around the clock to prepare Youssef Al-Azma School in Jindires to receive more than 3,000 students in the next academic year. We’re working hard so that the school’s courtyards will be filled with the sounds of children playing and laughing.

#Ihsan #SyrianForum #Education #Schools #Rehabilitation #Earthquake #Turkey #Syria

Today’s Robot Builder – Tomorrow’s Doctor

By | Education, Latest News, Protection

On the occasion of the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Ihsan Relief and Development reaffirms its commitment and work towards gender equality  

 

Bana is a 12-year-old Syrian girl, originally from Aleppo city. The war has forced her family to move twice. Schools have often been closed due to COVID-19. “Like all girls in Syria, I live a difficult childhood”.

 

Bana misses playing with her friends at school and learning new things – “When I can attend school I behave politely and work hard because I want to be a doctor and help sick people”. One day, a friend told her about a Women and Girls Safe Space where they take care of girls and teach them useful skills. Bana visited the Safe Space with some of her sisters. “I started to attend a robot building course – the sessions were amazing and new goals were set for each time. My new friend and I were so impressed and excited when we were able to make the robot walk! The robot is good – it helps us to use our intellectual skills.”

 

“I like to learn to make my future bright. I hope that this war will end soon so I can return safely with my family to our home in Aleppo. I am sure this is the dream of every girl here.”

With the help of her teacher, Shaimaa returns to play and concentrate in class after losing her parents

By | Education, Latest News, Success Stories

Shaimaa, 9, Syria – Aleppo
A well-trained teacher who brought Shaimaa back on track

At the age of 7, Shaimaa had lost her mother, and two of her brothers, which made her an orphan, as she has lost her father earlier. She stayed with her uncle, who carried the responsibility of her at that time, and had to send her to the orphans school where he expected to be a better place for her with children have similar sad situations like the one she had.
Shaimaa’s family is not displaced, given that they live already in one of the most famous destinations of internally displaced families, Al Atareb subdistrict in Aleppo countryside. This area was highly targeted and affected by the armed confrontations and the air strikes bombardings. Shaimaa’s family wasn’t a family of high income, but it was a family of a good education, her parents were both teachers, and hoped to raise their children to be educated at the highest level. The father, died as a result of the confrontations to leave the mother with 4 sons and 2 daughters to raise, support, and educate. The mother kept doing what she knew the best, teaching. She did that in the school supported by Save the Children through IhsanRD, Banat Al Atareb. Unfortunately, after the heavy bombarding targeted Al Atareb in December 2016, the family of Shaimaa lost the only provider and two sons who were scared and hiding their heads under their mother arms. Shaimaa’s uncle, wasn’t able to provide the needed financial and emotional support to his 2 nieces and 2 nephews, bearing in mind that he also lost other two brothers who in their turn left their families to face the hardships of living in Syria alone. For Shaimaa, the orphans’ school, wasn’t the right place to learn. But, her childish hope stayed inside here, wishing for a better tomorrow. The teachers of Banat Al Atareb school, stayed loyal to their beloved colleague Fatima Jalloul (Shaimaa’s mother) and never forgot Shaimaa, after the developments made in their school by IhsanRD, they reached out to Saimaa’s sister (21 years) which turned to be a college student and works as well as her youngest brother (19 years) in order to provide the minimum standard of livings to their siblings after they all came back to live in the same house they used to live in after being rehabilitated. On the 1st of October 2018, Shaimaa came back to be enrolled in her school at the 4th grade, where her mother used to teach for nearly 10 years. The traumas Shaimaa experienced had a lot of impact on the small girl, she now fears any sudden voices because of the bombardings targeted her home “the most thing scared me was the bombarding, it was hitting our house”. Shaimaa’s teacher Zahra who attended the “Child Safeguarding Policy training” for three days as well as other training delivered by IhsanRD staff, noticed that she is not showing the same reactions in classes as her teammates, not engaging with them in the playground, and talk as less as she can. The teacher tried to excite Shaimaa, by talking to her and gaining her confidence, motivating her for classes, and what matters more, talking with her about her family, and her parents whom she missed. The teacher noticed that drawing is one of the very useful tools for children to express their thoughts, therefore she
motivated the children including Shaimaa to draw and she even draws with them, using the materials provided by IhsanRD. It is obvious that Shaimaa will keep remember her mother and father and talk about them as she said: “the thing which will help me the most, is to have my parents living with us again”. But isn’t much better for Shaimaa to be able to mention her parents and express her feeling of the tendency to them? in order to go through these difficult days of her life. Shaimaa’s teachers insisted on helping her to overcome her issues and get back on track in her class. In the end, she was so proud and pleased “Shaimaa is playing with her friends again, fulfils her hobbies, and we draw together a lot”. Even though the education Shaimaa had in the 2nd and 3rd grade wasn’t as good as she deserves, she managed to excel in her class with the support of her caring teacher.
Shaimaa now is participating in class actively, she is playing with her friends especially her best friend “Jana”, and she is talking to her teacher a lot. Now, Shaimaa is more optimistic about achieving her amazing ambition “my dream is to be a doctor. I will continue my education and fulfil my dream”.

Childhood faces displacement: How protection mobile teams help displaced children

By | Education, Latest News, Protection, Success Stories

Kasem, 12 years, the oldest of his five brothers. due to war and bombardment, Kasem and his family were forced to leave their home in Hama and headed to the north of Syria where it is a relatively safer place for them till they settled in an IDPs camp in Harim Sub District, Idleb.

The experience of forced displacement made Kasem out of school, and no friends to play with, thinking of the play yard he used to spend most of his time in, “I miss my school and my family’s field of olive trees, I miss home, and everything”, loneliness that is what was Kasem suffering the most.

Kasem’s father was concerned about his oldest son and added: ” My family went through a long and harsh journey of displacement, I’m worried about my children’s future for being out of school all this time.”

Loneliness and sadness that Kasem was feeling ended when IhsanRD Protection Mobile Team arrived to the camp, where the team launched a series of group activies, and out of nowhere the happiness spreaded among the children, Kasem and his brothers started to play with other kids, they forgot about the displacement at least for a while.

Also, IhsanRD team supported the informal education space in the camp with learning instruments and provided the children with books, bags, and stationery, Kasem and other kids returned back to school.

Kasem’s dream is to have a stable life, returning to the olive trees and their old home, and completing his education to become a teacher at their village school.

With THF support, IhsanRD is implementing a protection response through integrated mobile emergency services in NW Syria, we have managed to reach more than 50,000 IDP’s with different services like rising awareness sessions, psycho-social support, case management, and recreational activities for children.

Sultan gets a high school diploma and takes a seat at the university

By | Education, Latest News, Success Stories, Wash

Sultan al-Jassim “Abu Mohammed” from the town of Souran, in the northern countryside of Hama, was a local teacher in the village elementary school for 20 years. Due to the war, Sultan was forced to move and live in IDPs camps in the area of Ma’arat al-Nu’man in Idlib, under very harsh conditions. IhsanRD’s team met Sultan during the water services activities of WASH program, as the members of the team were impressed by Sultan’s determination despite his difficult circumstances and age, dreaming in a better future. He graduated from high school with his son and daughter at the same time. He managed to succeed and booked seats at the University of Idlib to study Arabic and his daughter in the Faculty of Education and his son in the Faculty of Architecture. Sultan goes to university every day with his two children and returns to their tent, which does not protect them from hot in summer or cold in winter, believing that man can change his reality with determination and will.