Local educators in Sidon are growing increasingly frustrated with the dire conditions of the city’s Syrian refugees, some of whom are learning their lessons in a prefabricated container.
In the outskirts of Sidon, a building which is under construction in the village of Abra has been transformed into a makeshift compound for Syrian refugees. The compound is home to 36 families and nearly 179 people. A small prefabricated room has been transformed into the Bounyan School that houses classes, which range from kindergarten to grade six, for the compound’s 43 students.
“The children are seated on the ground. They are learning in order to forget violence that is taking place back home in their country,” said Louay Mansour, who is assisting in coordinating the relief effort for thousands of Syrian refugees in Sidon.
“We are working with local and international aid organizations to meet the needs of the refugees in the Sidon. We opened one school, with just one classroom and are teaching students in rotation.” Mansour said. The refugees in the compound are from the Syrian districts of Hama, Idlib, Aleppo and Damascus. “We are dealing with different communities and cultures,” Mansour said.
“The curriculum is not up to the standards of a regular school, but it is better than nothing. The curriculum is Syrian, and the teachers are Syrian,” he added.
“The educational level is as good as it can be, but it is difficult to discipline children who are dealing with issues related to war and immigration,” said Walaa, a former public school teacher who teaches 8-year-olds.
In the Bounyan School, many students are busy working on a math quiz and Safia from Idlib was the first to finish. “I was the first in my class in Syria. I hate the war and what it has done to my people. I want to go back to my class in Syria, but my father told me my school has been destroyed,” Safia said.
Monday, 40 students from the Iman School in Sidon visited the compound and brought food and school supplies with them as well as flowers which they distributed to the mothers at the compound to mark Mother’s day.
“We came here to try to lessen the impact of war on the children. Students from the Iman School held a bake sale to raise funds for the children at the compound. With the money that was raised we were able to buy the supplies that we brought with us today,” said Bassima, a school teacher who accompanied the students from the Iman School.
Separately, the Lebanese branch of the General Union of Palestinian Women held a play for Palestinian refugee children who were displaced from Syria in the Ain al-Hilweh Branch, with the assistance of the Syrian Refugee Committee and local activists. The Bissan Group, which is comprised of refugees from Palestinian camps in Syria, organized the play for an audience of many refugee children and their families, at the Ziad al-Atrash Hall to mark the International Children’s Day.
“We hope we were able to bring joy to refugee children. We also hope that peace will prevail so they may return to their homes in Syria, and eventually in Palestine,” The union’s head, Amina Jibril, said.
“We were born in refugee camps and now we are displaced in new camps because of the violence in Syria. We don’t expect to have normal lives like other children. We have lost our schools, friends, teachers, neighbors and our relatives. Our stops in Syria and Lebanon are just small steps that we need to take on the road back to Palestine,” Mahmoud Ibrahim, a Palestinian refugee displaced from Syria who spoke on behalf of the children said at the play.
The event ended with the lighting of candles and fireworks to celebrate International Children’s Day.
