REYHANLI, Turkey — On an ordinary street in this Turkish town on the Syrian border, there’s an ordinary apartment building where the extraordinary happens every day. Inside the doors, a new world awaits hundreds of Syrians refugee teens who have suffered for years through the trauma of war and loss. Here, they bond with expert mentors and their peers, learn how to build their ideas from concept to fabrication, use advanced technological tools to connect with the world, and gain the opportunity to become leaders.
This place is called Karam House.
When Karam House opened last March, I sat in one of the creative studio spaces on a long white table made out of many smaller IKEA white desks. I asked our first group of students and new mentors (all young Syrian professionals who also are refugees): “What would you like to do/learn/make here?” Everyone gave their answers in excited voices: Animator! Novelist! Scientist! Doctor! Coder! I want to learn how to drive. I want to learn how to cook. I want to make new friends. I want to learn English. I want to go to university. I want to become something.
Like most teens around the world, they want to learn different things. They want to socialize and hang out. They also desire a semblance of normal life — a harder goal to realize. They are laser-focused on the future and are seeking ways to create a better one. They desire to shed the bloody past that defines their childhood and look forward toward a future ready to be shaped by their agency.
At Karam House, Syrian kids are demanding that we rise up to their expectations. Not the other way around.
The devastating scale of the Syrian humanitarian crisis has overwhelmed nations and international aid agencies alike. Providing adequate education to the millions of Syrian refugee children and youth strewn across neighboring host countries has proven to be one of the biggest challenges. In Turkey alone, there are more than 3.3 million Syrian refugees — almost half of them under 18.
Merging tools, technology and skills
Because this humanitarian crisis is also taking place in the age of “there’s an app for that” technology, the popular magic solution to the refugee crisis seems to be a single word: innovation. The result of many innovative initiatives, often developed far from and not with refugee communities, usually falls short. Mass technology-oriented solutions alone cannot address the unique challenges of educating a generation of refugee children and youth. On the other hand, the traditional educational methods are not flexible enough to fit the students’ needs.
Karam House is an experiment in what could happen if you flood one of the most vulnerable refugee populations with every tool, technology, skill, and a radical curriculum that upends traditional learning. The space is free and open not only for Syrian refugee teens but Turkish teens, as well — because the host community must not be forgotten in refugee solutions.
Staffed by the local community, it is a place for everyone to learn and make practically anything: science, art, literature, technology, entrepreneurship, philosophy, and journalism. They prepare future opportunities in higher education and competitive jobs in a global market. They learn how to think, imagine, design, and build their ideas.
Currently 200 children are enrolled at Karam House in Reyhanli, a number split evenly between boys and girls. A lead education fellow trains the mentors — there are six full-time mentors who are young Syrian professional workers. Karam’s curriculum is developed in partnership with NuVu Studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
While Karam House requires no fees, it does have a social contract for students to follow: For example, commitment to the program and attendance, rules for using the space, and respect for mentors and the staff.
True innovation is local. It’s placing the tools in the hands of those ready to absorb the skills and build something we could never imagine. Over our four years of working with Syrian refugee children and youth we have learned that our best programs are shaped by the kids themselves. At Karam House we provide the physical and social space for them to grow into critical thinkers.
Children begin to see their world, full of despair, loss, and few opportunities, instead as full of potential problems to be solved. And they can be the ones to solve them. Instead of being a perpetual victim or a silent bystander destined to be limited in their capacity, they understand that they are powerful agents of change and are prepared to make a positive mark on their communities.
The Syrian crisis is almost seven years old. The facts and statistics are impossible to comprehend. The still-accumulating and devastating cost of this brutal war will cripple millions of Syrian lives for years to come. Today, Syrian children and youth face death and despair every single day. This will not be solved through innovation, technology, or humanitarian aid — no matter how advanced or well-intentioned.
Ending the war and upholding basic human rights for all is the only way to end Syrian suffering and pave the path towards peace. The airstrikes must stop and the sieges must be lifted. The detained must be freed, Refugees must be able to go home and be part of the process of rebuilding their communities. Syrians deserve to live without fear and in a country that values freedom, justice, and dignity. And above all, civilian lives, especially the children, must be protected.
To Syrians, these seem to be impossible dreams — although they are the rights of every human being on the planet. Until these dreams become a reality, we are committed to helping Syrian children and youth realize their personal goals. At Karam House, the Syrian refugees of today become the Syrian leaders of tomorrow.
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Changing Traditional Education May be Key to Empowering Refugee Teenagers originally appeared on usnews.com
