War Child’s Post

Transcript

When were started in Syria, I was six years old. That year my whole life changed upside down. It's when my parents told me that we were going to leave Syria and go to Lebanon. It was the moment I realized that I had to leave my home, my school, friends, toys, everything. I remember it took us two days to reach the borders at North Lebanon. During these two days, there was hopelessness, uncertainty and fear. We could hear the bombing, screaming and cries of children. My parents tried to calm me down and say that everything will be OK. I hope that everything would be OK. And then with each Lebanon, where I wanted to see our new home. Then it turns out that I'm going to share a room in a tent with my seven family members. Then I started to realize that it's not the life that I used to have and it's not gonna be anymore. I started to realize that going back to school is not happening anytime soon. Working and supporting family was the only choice We had to do harvesting to support family in the daily income. And as years passed and I approached adolescence, all I could hear is talks about me getting married. And that's when I started to lose hope and my dream started to fade. It was that period of hopelessness that education was brought into our tent. That's one I regained hope and I started to dare to hope about my future. That's one I learned math and reading, which was bridging for me to go to school. This is not my story. It's the story of Fatima, a Syrian refugee. She shared this story with me in Tripoli, in one of War Child centers. Fatima is one of the million girls and children around the world who miss out on education. And yes. This is the power of education. It's empowers children and gives them agency and hope about their future, and it���s educational technology that facilitates that by giving access to the hardest to reach. Thank you.