Reporting by Omar al-Sheikh Ahmed; Translation by Rana Abdul
(Eqtsad)- Coinciding with the relative stability in the liberated regions of southern Syria and halt of battles there, some voluntary activities are taking place in liberated Daraa province.
Activities address people’s lives and care for segments in society which have been very marginalized due to absence of a breadwinner as a result of Syrian regime criminal acts against women and men.
The violence of the regime turned many children into orphans to find themselves alone on the road. They became subject to psychological and social distress as well as spread illiteracy among these children.
Taqwa Center cares for children and children of detainees in Ibtaa city in Daraa countryside. The center is considered one of the important centers addressing children problems in absence of main breadwinner either because of death, detention or enforced absence perpetrated by regime forces against the families.
Shareef al-Nusayrat, public relation manager in the center, says, “the raging war in Syria since 5 years and the hardships experienced by civilians as a result. The continuous displacement of civilians seeking a safe place separated many children from their schools and made them exposed to illiteracy.”
He added, “because of that and in order to preserve children from illiteracy and psycho-social disorders which are common in such conditions, a group of specialized persons in the filed launched a center in Ibtaa city to care for those children. The center works to eradicate illiteracy and solve children problems by looking into their cases and taking them in the center. The center will also offer them whatever is needed to help them overcome psycho-social problems as well as learning difficulties.”
“The center received and offered teaching services during the past year to 210 children including orphans of 6 years old and children of detainees until 13 years of age both males and females. The center in which more than 22 specialized volunteers in the psychological and educational fields offer psycho-social support, develops talent, teaches Quran, and other sport/entertainment activities,” al-Nusayrat said.
Al-Nusayrat mentioned the difficulties facing the work in the center. First and foremost, there is the threat of city exposure to regime forces attacks and continuous displacement of the locals in the city. Also, the center is distant from neighborhoods where students live which puts a financial pressure on the center since it provides transportation to all students.
There is also the continuous absence of children because of fear of attacks. Al-Nusayrat pointed out the center started a course for around 46 children from different age groups for a duration of 3 months. In the course, the children illiteracy was eradicated, and they were taught to read and write to distribute them to their classes in government schools again.
Meanwhile, social researcher in the center Batul Mohamed supervises the activities in the center said, “the center was founded to respond to humanitarian needs to keep children innocence who were exposed to many hardships and experienced excessive of fear and paranoia due to battle and sounds of artillery and explosive barrels bombed by regime forces on the locals,” she indicated that the main objective of the center is to improve the psychological, moral, religious, and educational realities for children who lost a lot of the basics of a normal life because of the regime criminal acts against their families.
She added, “the center works for 5 days a week for 3 ours on average in the evening. Mathematics, Arabic, English, Sciences, and Quran are taught in the center. Many orphan and detainees’ children benefit from these courses because they did not finish some curriculum due to their circumstances.”
She indicated that the classes in the center are tutoring courses given to them in addition to their classes in regime schools. The classes aim to improve their educational level since they missed alot of information due to the security situations.
Batul Mohamed continued saying, “the center achieved positive outcomes and the effect can be noticed on children. Their desire to learn have increased in the center even though they go to school in the morning. Also, their education level improved and we noticed that by visits and following up with them in schools.” She clarified that the tutoring classes in the center enhanced self-confidence of targeted children as well as improved their behavior with their families and community as a whole.
Her work as a social researcher focuses on channel of communication between the center and the families. Her work studies the case of the orphan or son of detainee and the effect on his psychological, educational, and behavioral status in addition to developing and refining talents. She pointed out that most of orphans suffer fear and paranoia of any loud sound and they feel a sense of inferiority and lack of confidence. They are jealous of other children who have parents and sometimes are aggressive.
Eqtsad met with some children who expressed their joy about the center which helped them qualify educationally. They said they have a big desire to come to the center every day where they get what they need of classes in their curriculum in schools.
Meanwhile, Nada Ayyash, a teacher in the center, reported an incident about a child who broke down in tears when families congratulated her father who was released from regime detentions. People though she was crying out of joy of the release of her father, but when they asked her why she was crying, she said, “I am not a daughter of a detainee anymore. They will expel me from the center because it is only for orphans and children of detainees.”
Ayyash recalled another incident saying the student was semi-illiterate, but she was very talented in drawing and the center is offering all it can to develop and refine her talent.
Ibtaa city is one of the cities in Daraa province. It has a population of more than 23000, and most of them work in trade and agriculture. The city was exposed to bloody events during the Syrian revolution and storming as well as attacks.
The city lost many locals either killed, detained, or missing. Ibtaa is located on the old main road of Damascus- Daraa and is 20 Km of distance from Daraa whereas it is 80 Km from Damascus to the south.
(Eqtsad)- Coinciding with the relative stability in the liberated regions of southern Syria and halt of battles there, some voluntary activities are taking place in liberated Daraa province.
Activities address people’s lives and care for segments in society which have been very marginalized due to absence of a breadwinner as a result of Syrian regime criminal acts against women and men.
The violence of the regime turned many children into orphans to find themselves alone on the road. They became subject to psychological and social distress as well as spread illiteracy among these children.
Taqwa Center cares for children and children of detainees in Ibtaa city in Daraa countryside. The center is considered one of the important centers addressing children problems in absence of main breadwinner either because of death, detention or enforced absence perpetrated by regime forces against the families.
Shareef al-Nusayrat, public relation manager in the center, says, “the raging war in Syria since 5 years and the hardships experienced by civilians as a result. The continuous displacement of civilians seeking a safe place separated many children from their schools and made them exposed to illiteracy.”
He added, “because of that and in order to preserve children from illiteracy and psycho-social disorders which are common in such conditions, a group of specialized persons in the filed launched a center in Ibtaa city to care for those children. The center works to eradicate illiteracy and solve children problems by looking into their cases and taking them in the center. The center will also offer them whatever is needed to help them overcome psycho-social problems as well as learning difficulties.”
“The center received and offered teaching services during the past year to 210 children including orphans of 6 years old and children of detainees until 13 years of age both males and females. The center in which more than 22 specialized volunteers in the psychological and educational fields offer psycho-social support, develops talent, teaches Quran, and other sport/entertainment activities,” al-Nusayrat said.
Al-Nusayrat mentioned the difficulties facing the work in the center. First and foremost, there is the threat of city exposure to regime forces attacks and continuous displacement of the locals in the city. Also, the center is distant from neighborhoods where students live which puts a financial pressure on the center since it provides transportation to all students.
There is also the continuous absence of children because of fear of attacks. Al-Nusayrat pointed out the center started a course for around 46 children from different age groups for a duration of 3 months. In the course, the children illiteracy was eradicated, and they were taught to read and write to distribute them to their classes in government schools again.
Meanwhile, social researcher in the center Batul Mohamed supervises the activities in the center said, “the center was founded to respond to humanitarian needs to keep children innocence who were exposed to many hardships and experienced excessive of fear and paranoia due to battle and sounds of artillery and explosive barrels bombed by regime forces on the locals,” she indicated that the main objective of the center is to improve the psychological, moral, religious, and educational realities for children who lost a lot of the basics of a normal life because of the regime criminal acts against their families.
She added, “the center works for 5 days a week for 3 ours on average in the evening. Mathematics, Arabic, English, Sciences, and Quran are taught in the center. Many orphan and detainees’ children benefit from these courses because they did not finish some curriculum due to their circumstances.”
She indicated that the classes in the center are tutoring courses given to them in addition to their classes in regime schools. The classes aim to improve their educational level since they missed alot of information due to the security situations.
Batul Mohamed continued saying, “the center achieved positive outcomes and the effect can be noticed on children. Their desire to learn have increased in the center even though they go to school in the morning. Also, their education level improved and we noticed that by visits and following up with them in schools.” She clarified that the tutoring classes in the center enhanced self-confidence of targeted children as well as improved their behavior with their families and community as a whole.
Her work as a social researcher focuses on channel of communication between the center and the families. Her work studies the case of the orphan or son of detainee and the effect on his psychological, educational, and behavioral status in addition to developing and refining talents. She pointed out that most of orphans suffer fear and paranoia of any loud sound and they feel a sense of inferiority and lack of confidence. They are jealous of other children who have parents and sometimes are aggressive.
Eqtsad met with some children who expressed their joy about the center which helped them qualify educationally. They said they have a big desire to come to the center every day where they get what they need of classes in their curriculum in schools.
Meanwhile, Nada Ayyash, a teacher in the center, reported an incident about a child who broke down in tears when families congratulated her father who was released from regime detentions. People though she was crying out of joy of the release of her father, but when they asked her why she was crying, she said, “I am not a daughter of a detainee anymore. They will expel me from the center because it is only for orphans and children of detainees.”
Ayyash recalled another incident saying the student was semi-illiterate, but she was very talented in drawing and the center is offering all it can to develop and refine her talent.
Ibtaa city is one of the cities in Daraa province. It has a population of more than 23000, and most of them work in trade and agriculture. The city was exposed to bloody events during the Syrian revolution and storming as well as attacks.
The city lost many locals either killed, detained, or missing. Ibtaa is located on the old main road of Damascus- Daraa and is 20 Km of distance from Daraa whereas it is 80 Km from Damascus to the south.
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.