A major part of this is centralising the three tent schools we currently support in three different refugee camps into one brand new school building (see image above). This will have room to educate around 350 children, with space for an office and a lot of room outside to play.

This new school set up will not only provide better facilities, but will enable children to become accustomed to a larger, more structured learning environment, to prepare them for entry into mainstream school if they return to Syria.

Making visits across the border and into Syria, Nuna has observed the desecration of the villages that people are being expected to return to. “Their homes are completely destroyed, there are no jobs, no people, no services, so although they are being encouraged to return, it is more complicated than that”.

After providing ongoing support for displaced people within Syria, our partners now have a number of different plans to help those returning to the country, the first of which will be the opening of a Community Centre in the suburbs of Damascus in December. They are also looking at establishing a series of ‘safe parks’ for children in Syria.

​Nuna says “Children are not used to playing in Syria and everyone is depressed. They are often neglected and don’t often play at home”. Consequently the parks will not only be colourful spaces with play equipment, but will be used to deliver quality psychosocial support programmes.

Over £4,000 of this was raised by a fantastic group of 27 runners who were all part of this year’s Run for Refugees Team. All 27 team members committed to raise a minimum of £100 each for our work with refugee children in Bangladesh and Lebanon.

Mother and daughter team, Michele and Tiki (pictured above) were part of these fundraising efforts and talked to us about how they got support in the run up to the race. On the day they were kitted out in their ‘Run for Refugees’ t-shirts, complete with matching tutus.

Here are some of Tiki’s comments describing their experience of this year’s Chichester Half:

“I was really quite nervous on the morning of the race, training in the last couple weeks had done a bit awry as I had been unwell…Mum was also a bit nervous as she knew what was ahead of us having completed last years race as well! 

There is a specific focus on issues of trafficking, child marriage and exploitation within the activities of the camp and host community Centres and teachers are trained to raise awareness with the children. They also work with parents to talk to them about the negative effects of child marriage and the value of girl’s education. We have seen positive results from this over the years, with parental attitudes changing both in the camps and the communities.

Safiya is studying Grade 3 at one of the Centres. She's also a member of the Child Council, and in one of their recent newsletters she wrote an article about her feelings about child marriage.
She says,  “If I leave the school my grandmother will marry me off, which I don’t like at my early age. I have decided to advocate against early marriage in my slum. If my neighbours don’t hear me I will bring my teacher to explain it to them, early marriage is a risk for health and life".

Child councils attached to the Learning Centres in both areas have extra activities focused on gender issues, and give girls a voice. In Cox’s Bazar they have become instrumental in campaigning against child marriage, and creating change within their communities.

Partnering with ‘Girl Determined’, the new Centres in the camps will be used to host weekly gatherings for adolescent girls, led by local trained facilitators. They will cover issues such as decision-making, self-confidence, girls’ rights and planning for the future.​