Father, son resume learning together at Azraq camp

AMMAN — For Syrian refugee children forced to flee their country at a young age, life in a new country can be near unbearable: Difficulty  adapting to an unknown setting, new culture and educational system, and no familiar faces to recognise on a daily basis.

Ayman, 13, was no exception: After escaping his Syrian hometown of Manbij alongside his family in early 2016, the teenage boy found himself living in Azraq refugee camp in eastern Jordan.

The second largest Syrian refugee camp in the Kingdom, Azraq hosts over 40,540 people, almost 60 per cent of whom are aged between 18 and 35 years old, according to the UNHCR September 2018 figures. 

“At the beginning, I spent most of the time at the shelter; I only left home for school,” Ayman recounted, remembering how he had to adapt to a whole new school, with strange teachers and unfamiliar classmates.

“I didn’t have any friends or relatives here in the camp,” he recalled, stressing that this only pushed him further towards his passion for English, which he had stopped learning since he dropped out of school two years before.

As part of its non-formal education, vocational and psychosocial support programmes were implemented to support Syrian refugees in Jordan, the Finn Church Aid (FCA) has been offering English language classes to residents of the Azraq camp, an opportunity that Ayman rushed to seize.

Supported by his father Abddulhadi, Ayman quickly moved up from one level to another, driven by a steady determination. Proud of his teenage son’s achievement, Abddulhadi, an agronomist, even started attending the English classes, both to “support his son” and “refresh his own English language skills”.

“I love seeing my father sitting beside me in the class,” Ayman said with a smile, noting that “it helps me a lot, especially when I do some mistakes, as he corrects me”.

“And I even corrected his!” he rejoiced jokingly, noting that ''at home after class, we revise the new words we learnt during the day, which helps me to memorise them easily”.

Established in Jordan in 2012, the Finnish NGO FCA aims to “instill hope, particularly in young people aged 12–30” who live in the refugee camps of Zaatari and Azraq, as well as in host communities in Amman, Irbid and Zarqa, according to its website.

In addition to English, FCA also offers IT-skills, craft workshops and vocational training, aiming to open wider employment opportunities for refugees, enhancing their independence.

For Ayman and his father, being able to attend these classes went even further than a means to gain new skills: It brought them closer together in the midst of a challenging environment, serving as an example to other parents.

After observing the extraordinary relationship between Ayman and his father, a number of other parents started attending the classes alongside their children.

Ayman said he now has “lots of friends” who look to him as a role model ever since he was honoured as first in his class.