Educating Orphans presented a challenge since orphaned children in northern Syria face various difficulties in accessing education. Poverty, displacement, and the scarcity of educational centers have led them to discontinue their studies. According to statistics from concerned human rights organizations, more than 198,000 orphaned children are not receiving education, which burdens them greatly and poses a threat to their future. Therefore, Masarat Initiative has sought to target orphaned children who are deprived of education and provide them with free services, aiming to address the significant education gap in northern Syria.
Orphans’ Return to Education through Masarat
Among these orphans is Ahmed Al-Ahmad, an 18-year-old who lost his father five years ago. He and his family were displaced from the eastern countryside of Maarat Al-Numan in Idlib province, which subjected him to various difficulties, including a long interruption in his education due to living conditions and the high cost of private education. However, his father’s will for him to continue his studies never faded, and it motivated Ahmed to search for a special opportunity to continue his education and fulfill his father’s wishes.
With the start of the 2022/2023 academic year, Masarat began targeting and attracting students who had dropped out of school, including orphans and other groups, and enrolling them in educational programs by providing free online education. Ahmed was among those children who benefited from the services offered by the initiative to students.
He describes his joy upon finding a unique opportunity at Masarat educating orphans to continue their journey, saying, “When I open my book and prepare for the lesson, I feel capable of teaching my classmates instead of the teacher. I can’t describe my happiness at that time, and I hope to fulfill my father’s dream and his will”.
Help us educate 500 orphans in Syria
Ahmed was not the only one who succeeded in achieving the dream of returning to school and fulfilling his father’s wishes through Masarat. Hussein Qantara also shared in this achievement. Hussein, an orphan, only knew his father through a few photos and his mother’s words about him. Despite the living difficulties he faced and the interruption in his education due to displacement, he never gave up on his dream and his father’s dream of continuing his educational journey.
Hussein says, “Despite the difficulties of life without my father, I will continue to strive through my studies and work to achieve his dream. I am now studying in the third year of high school, and my dream is to pursue pharmacy. My mother always tells me about my father’s desire for us to complete our education, so I will continue to work towards achieving my academic and professional goals”.
Educating Orphans becomes a Reality
The dreams of orphans become a reality with Masarat. Ahmed and Hussein successfully joined the Masarat initiative and greatly benefited from its educational services. The initiative provided free online education for them and over 1,379 orphaned children. It helped them acquire activity-based skills that develop their abilities and provided them with guidance and direction to achieve their academic and professional goals.
