The hardest situations have a way of bringing out people’s hidden resilience.
For the staff of Al-Watan’s Generation Freedom School for Syrians in Qah Camp, Idleb, this moment of truth happened after they decided reluctantly to cap registration at 800 students—though this left nearly as many kids unable to attend. But with limited space and only 32 teachers, not doing so would overcrowd classrooms and make learning nearly impossible.
And these students need more than before, since most haven’t been in school for two years and, as manager Hadeel Al-Shami put it, “they’ve gotten used to war, and their hearts have grown tougher.”
But her faith grew when just after registration had stopped, another set of parents came in asking to register their child; she explained apologetically that there was no place for him. Two days later, their son returned and said with teary eyes: “My father is educated and my mother is, too. Why should I be uneducated?”
This boy, Hadeel says, “gave us great hope that our children still want to learn, to be educated, and to fight for their right to do so.”
To support them, the school strives to give kids a safe space and “to re-introduce them to regularity, isolate them from disorder, and remedy the negative impacts of experiencing and witnessing violence and destruction.”
For more info – Jeel Al-Hurreya’s website
