More than anyone can possibly handle.

omertality (36)in #blog • 7 years ago (edited)

Ahmed an eight year old Kurdish boy from Syria. The psychologist of the NGO already had a few sessions with him and he has been in my English classes for a few times. In class he always sat alone, did not talk to anyone or went to a corner with his face against the wall. This shocked me a lot, especially because he did not react when I called him. Not to forget that he did not allow his mom to leave, he never stayed somewhere without his mother. He has went through and seen so much horror. More than a person can handle. Since he came to the camp, he stopped socializing, stopped going to school, stopped making friends, stayed inside their tent for the whole day and stopped talking.

In every activity we included him with the group and tried to give him more attention. I also went to my boss for advice on how to act towards him and how we could help him the best way. He advised me to give him and his little sister private classes, for him to first get used to one person at a time.

After a few classes he started talking but just short answers. After a few weeks working with him he made a huge step, which no one had ever expected to happen that fast. While I was teaching him A, B and C, I took the risk to ask his mother to go home and that I would bring the kids home. She agreed and Ahmed did not say anything. To be honest I really expected him to cry, scream and run after his mother as always, but he did not. He just continued writing. As if I was not in the clouds already he said that he would start going to school again.

For a few weeks we had been busy with trying to get Ahmed back to school. Together with a social worker of ACTED, Ahmed’s parents and one of our psychologist we went to the principal of the primary school inside the Camp to discuss further steps which we needed to take in order for Ahmed to start going to school and his teachers being informed about his situation. The first few days were the hardest, he ran away, he did not even enter the classroom and he stopped speaking again, however luckily in time and with a lot of support from everyone he got better step by step.

I visited him a few times at school and had meetings with his principal to discuss his progress. Ahmed the Kurdish boy from Syria who went through and seen so much horror, who stopped socializing, stopped going to school, stopped making friends, stayed inside the tent for the whole day and stopped talking is now sitting in the front row of class with a big smile on his face. The right to education which everyone should fight for, no matter how hard it is because it is every childs right. Especially for refugees it is their only hope to a better future.