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Life skills and education for children and youth in refugee camps

To support these children return to learning, WNCB is running education programmes within the camp. The programmes include classes on Arabic, maths and English for children aged 8-16 years. Children are welcomed in a safe space where they’re taught different skills, they can talk about their challenges, meet others, make friends, and also just have fun. The programme also targets parents and caregivers, guiding and supporting them on how to provide a safe and healthy environment for their children and enabling them to grow and develop.

“It was really hard in the beginning. We had to leave everything behind. We used to live a very good life in Syria. Now we have almost nothing. When we arrived, we used to cry every day, but now we got used to living here. The main thing is that I am happy and thankful that we are safe.”

Ghofran is very much involved with the children in the camp. “Because of the situation here, a lot of kids are very negative. Sometimes they’re aggressive. They teach each other bad behavior, like fighting, smoking, etc. When children go outside the camp to work, you can see their mentalities changing. They become tougher, more negative. In our programme, we try to take the negative energy out of them. We try to teach them about sharing and the spirit of teamwork. After a while you can see them changing in a positive way.”

Besides working in our programmes, Ghofran puts a big effort in raising awareness on child marriage in the camp. She is very proud of her two daughters: they are in 10th grade, and they also talk to classmates about this. Recently they managed to convince one girl to go back to school instead of getting married.

Photos by Mo’awia Bajis

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