School clubs help conflict-affected children in Syria access remedial education, recreation activities
By David Youngmeyer Damascus/Amman, 12 November 2013 – Despite extraordinary challenges associated with the on-going conflict, UNICEF-supported school clubs in Syria have reached close to 290,000 children with remedial education and recreation activities. The conflict is taking a serious toll on school infrastructure, limiting education opportunities for children across the country. Over 4,000 schools — […]
A tale of two schoolgirls
By Chris Niles ERBIL, Iraq, 12 November 2013— Jwana, 11, is in fifth grade. Her name means ‘beautiful’ and she intends to become an art and music teacher. “I like to draw flowers and houses and girls playing,” she says. “Also, I like to sing. I love to learn songs.”
Where is my copybook and where is my pen?
By Chris Niles ERBIL, Iraq, 6 November 2013—Wafa has six children and one of them, Cibar, is deaf and mute. The family lives in Kawergosk refugee camp. In their old life in Damascus, before the Syrian conflict drove them from their home, Cibar was studying in school and planning to become a teacher of children […]
Syrian volunteer teachers in Turkey: Not just educators
By Tulay Guler ADANA, Turkey, 31 October 2013 – When Muhammed Ismael, 41, first arrived to Turkey from Edlib, he did not want to just sit idle. This father of six, who used to work as an English language teacher, decided to put his skills and experience at the service of children who now, like […]
Back to school in Turkey, one pair of shoes at a time
ADIYAMAN, Turkey, 3 November 2013 – There are many reasons why children don’t go to school. Not having shoes is rarely one of them. Yet, for many Syrian children living in Turkey’s refugee camps, lack of warm clothes can make or break their academic future.
“Aassir, Aassir!”
By Krystel Abimeri ZA’ATARI, Jordan, 28 October 2013 – Another long day in Za’atari, the second day of a UNICEF-supported polio vaccination campaign. UNICEF staff are getting ready to hit the streets of the camp to check on the vaccine doses and the cold chain equipment. Community health workers from International Relief and Development Jordan (IRD) […]
UNICEF Executive Director meets with displaced families during immunization campaign in the Syrian Arab Republic
By Razan Rashdi During a visit to the Syrian Arab Republic, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake meets with mothers and their children, and the people who are working so hard to reach every last one with life-saving services. DAMASCUS, Syrian Arab Republic, 29 October 2013 – During a two-day visit to the Syrian Arab Republic, […]
Global Handwashing Day celebrated in refugee camps
By Chris Niles ERBIL, Iraq, 29 October 2013 —Handwashing is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to prevent disease, and in a crowded refugee camp where families are sharing sanitation facilities it’s especially important. There are about 100,000 refugees living in camps in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and UNICEF is working to […]
Marriage, not a girl’s only option
By Melanie Sharpe ZA’ATARI CAMP, Jordan, 29 October 2013 – Like many Syrian girls displaced from their homes and now living as refugees, Manal* was engaged to be married at the age of 16. “In Syria, it was common for girls to get married early and here my father said I have to marry. I […]
Continuing studies amid continuing unrest
By Razan Rashidi At a vocational training centre in suburban Damascus, Widad, Douaa, Georgina and Dalia have been able to continue their studies, amid continuing unrest. DAMASCUS, Syria, 28 October 2013 – It’s morning, and Widad, 19, waits impatiently for Douaa, 18, in the alley outside her house. Douaa finally arrives, smiling and apologizing for […]
In Syria, UNICEF supports vaccination campaign for children
By Razan Rashidi Damascus, 27 October 2013 — “Nurses will visit the school and give you vaccines that will protect you from disease and sickness,” announces Rihab to her sixth-grade students at the end of the school day. It is a scene repeated in thousands of classrooms in Syria ahead of a vaccination campaign that started […]
“That was our goal, to make children happy.”
By: Chris Niles SULIMANIYAH, Iraq, 27 October 2013 —It’s a sight you see all over the world on a Saturday afternoon; boys lined up in their football uniforms, getting ready to go onto the pitch. Football is one of the world’s most popular sports, but for these boys, on this day, it has extra meaning.