Thousands of internally displaced people from Kachin State are facing freezing temperatures in the remote mountain areas where they have built settlements.
Surviving the cold at these high altitudes has become unbearable and our local partners have recently responded by distributing warm clothes such as trousers, coats, hats, socks and boots to each child and teacher at all of the 14 Early Childhood Development Centres we support here. There were 534 sets of warmth clothes distributed in total, procured from Chinese markets on the other side of the border. One grandmother of a child who received a set of clothes said, “My grandchild has been asking for socks and warm clothes since the winter advanced last month, but I could not afford to get any for him, and I felt extremely bad as he is in dire need of warm clothes. I am very thankful for your kind help on behalf of my grandchild, he is happy and feels secure now, and your assistance is very useful to us as you provide in a time of extreme need.” Find out more about the education we provide for Kachin children in Burma. Over 65,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state since soldiers began intensive ‘counter-terrorism’ operations there in October. The level of human rights abuses has rocketed with countless reports of killings, rape, beatings and arson.
Tens of thousands have fled over the border to Bangladesh into the unofficial refugee camps, but the host communities are refugees themselves who have little to offer in terms of food and shelter. For over 5 years now Children on the Edge have been working with Rohingya refugee children in the makeshift camps of Bangladesh. We provide education to 2,700 children in a safe place, with a child friendly approach and trusted adult presence. The current surge of refugees into the camp that we work in has transformed a landscape already densely packed with sprawling makeshift shelters. The UN tracked about 22,000 arrivals in just one week, but those working locally estimate the number to be far higher. John Littleton, our Asia Regional Manager visited the camp last week and has reported that “The level of desperation is palpable. Not only is the physical landscape changing as dozens of bamboo, plastic, mud and stick huts are built each day, but there are lines of women and elderly people sat along the main road begging, in an area that is already resource scarce. I have been coming here over 5 years now and never seen this before”. Since their government passed the 1982 Citizenship Act, the Rohingya people have been denied access to citizenship and subjected to grave human rights abuses at the hands of the authorities and local population in Myanmar. For years, to escape this treatment, they have made perilous journeys at sea or fled across the borders, often to countries who, due to their own levels of poverty and overpopulation, do not welcome them. The Rohingya community we work with have faced ongoing attacks and vandalism at the hands of a resentful local community, but the latest influx of refugees has prompted a different reaction. John describes how “There is a softening in the wider community, and local violence towards the Rohingya is subsiding as it is dawning on people that these are not ‘migrants’, they are refugees fleeing from serious systemised abuse. This is clear from the sheer numbers of people entering the camps, but also the visible level of abuse that these people have suffered. Families are arriving injured and bleeding, some without clothes, many in grief having witnessed the death of loved ones, this is not something you can ignore”. Whilst in 2012 the persecution and abuse of the Rohingya came from from Buddhist militias that were backed by, but not overtly connected to the Myanmar government, the current atrocities are being perpetrated by organised soldiers in official uniform. The schools facilitated by Children on the Edge are already at capacity, but the current focus is working with those children to create an atmosphere of safety and familiarity. Teachers are trained from within the camps, and given specific guidance on supporting children living through trauma. In the face of everything they have witnessed this year the children are making great progress in their education. In our recent evaluation of the programme 92% of children in the schools exhibited signs of increased confidence and positive self-esteem. We are continuing to invest in this work and are actively pursuing funds for the schools to ensure their sustainability, deliver high quality education and provide a protective environment for these children. If you would like to find out more about supporting these schools at this crucial time, then please read our project page, consider an online donation, or get in touch. Winter in Syria can be bitter, with extended periods of snow and temperatures below zero. Many families who have fled their homes because of the conflict, and those in villages affected by conflict are living without enough clothing, fuel or food to survive.
The partners we work with in Lebanon are currently making trips across the Syrian border to the Eastern suburbs of Damascus to provide food and fuel to 160 internally displaced families enduring freezing conditions. Our partners have found many more families in need - more that they can currently help - and they would like to do more. If you'd like support this work, you can make a donation to help a Syrian family. We will make sure this money goes directly to help Syrian families survive the winter. Nuna Matar who leads the project describes how ”Each person, each family is a living tragedy. Many have lost wives, husbands and children to torture, rape, and death”. The team there have identified a large number of unaccompanied street children who they would like to provide support for, if they can secure funding in the coming weeks. Nuna goes on to say “We are seeing first hand the tragedy in the Damascus area where a main spring in the wadi Barada area that supplies water to the capital city was targeted by rebels and was damaged, leaving 4 million people in Damascus without water. On top of that Damascus is accusing rebels of polluting water supplies with diesel and water authority has cut supplies to Syrian capital”. Recently a small group of friends who support Children on the Edge clubbed together to support a Syrian family by donating enough money to pay for fuel and heating each month. They said “It’s just a simple way that we felt we could make a difference, without going through a lot of bureaucracy. We know our support is going direct to families that need it, through a small local organisation that is responding directly and quickly to the current need". It costs just £40 to provide a Syrian family with enough food to survive, and fuel to keep warm, for a month. If you feel you, or a group you are part of, would like to make a donation to help a Syrian family through the winter, then please make a one-off, or regular donation here. Thank you. A year on from forced evacuation - Syrian refugee children have made their ideas a reality15/12/2016
Last December, the Lebanese military entered one of the refugee camps where we were supporting work with Syrian refugee children. They ordered an evacuation, giving camp dwellers a week to take down their tents and leave. They did this in many camps along the sightline of the Lebanese Syrian border-point because of a potential terrorist presence. This meant there was no alternative camp for refugees to move to in the area, so we supported our partners to find new land and build their own camp for refugees.
During this eviction period, as families were trying to come up with plans for where to move, our local partners took all the children that were being evicted on a field trip. They thought it would do them good to be distracted, especially as they sensed many of them were feeling anxious about the military returning. When the military showed up the first time they intentionally intimidated the Syrians: they came in their full attire, brought their tanks and weapons, and threatened to run over the tents with their tanks if the Syrians weren’t gone in a week. Our partners gathered the children and took them to land owned by a local convent, which has some beautiful grounds. Here they could run around, wade in the lake, and enjoy the fall leaves and vineyards. The trip was incredibly successful and the children were talking about it for weeks after, showing their parents photos, with their minds distracted from their current situation. They also used the trip to start conversations about how, together, they could shape their future home so that it has some of the beautiful elements of the gardens they visited. It was a great opportunity to talk to them about the power they have to care for their environment, cultivate it, and enjoy it. They also to discussed how their choices make a difference, how even small, simple things can have big impact. This could be avoiding littering, or starting a small garden next to their tents. When the new camp began to be built, teachers and students were encouraged to be a part of the moving process: brainstorming ideas and dreams for the future plot of land, involving the adults and older children in the building. One teacher described how “I really like that we teach the children to make conclusions instead of pointing everything out to them.” The conclusions the children reached about the new camp, was that they would love some gardens, they wanted a clean, safe area and most of all, a playground! A year later and all this is a reality. The new camp is the only settlement in the area with tents spaced strategically to allow access for services. Other camps tend to end up as a maze like sprawl of tents , there is electricity for light and safety and all the residents are part of a cooperative where they influence the running of the day to day life. Nuna Matar, who heads up the work in the camp says of the new playground “The children are using it to the full! For the children, having their own space where adults have no business being in has proven to be very beneficial”. Alongside the provision of education in the camp, creating a child friendly environment with colour and play as a central part of life is crucial for children who have experienced trauma to gain a sense of security and normalcy. You can support this work over Christmas by giving to our Season of Hope Appeal or perhaps in the new year take on a fundraising challenge! For over 5 years now Children on the Edge have been working with Rohingya refugee children in the makeshift camps of Bangladesh. The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group in Rakhine State, Myanmar who are widely considered the most persecuted group in the world.
Since their government passed the 1982 Citizenship Act, the Rohingya people have been denied access to citizenship and subjected to grave human rights abuses at the hands of the authorities and local population in Myanmar. To escape this treatment, they make perilous journeys at sea or flee across the borders, often to countries that are already impoverished and over populated. Bangladesh is now hosting around 400,000 Rohingya people and despite the recent surge of violence in Myanmar, are currently turning them away. In the last month there has been an additional surge of violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar, and a UN official has stated that the agenda fuelling it is ethnic cleansing. Some 30,000 Rohingya have fled their homes in the last month and an analysis of satellite images by Human Rights Watch has shown that hundreds of buildings in Rohingya villages have been razed. Claims of gang rape, torture and murder are adding to the crimes against humanity endured by this people group. Conditions for those that have made it across the border are poor and children have no opportunity for education. Official refugee camps are at capacity, overspilling into illegal makeshift camps. Movement is restricted and refugees have no permission to work outside the camps. They are often subject to attacks and persecution from locals who resent the refugee community. Children on the Edge work in the largest makeshift refugee camp in Bangladesh providing low profile primary education for Rohingya children in the camp. We operate 45 classrooms within the camp, enabling 2,700 children to gain a full primary education. All children follow a government recognised curriculum and take exams, ensuring that their education is officially recognised in Bangladesh, despite their migrant status. Without this provision there is a chance a whole generation of Rohingya will grow up unable to read or write, the latest wave of violence has tripled the amount of refugees coming into the areas we are working and the need is greater than ever. We are actively looking for support and funding for this vital work. Please get in touch if you think you can help with funding, or think about making a donation. Thank you. Bahiya is a Syrian refugee, who fled with her family to Lebanon, in order to escape the violent conflict going on around them. She thinks she is 10 or 11 years old, but she's not sure. When she arrived at the tent school we support in Bekaa Valley, the teachers noticed she was stood off to the side, completely uninterested in the developments of the day. She held a girl of three in her arms and another girl of five was yanking on her skirt for attention. It became apparent that these were her siblings, and that she had a choice of staying at home to take care of them or bringing them to class with her. Throughout alphabet lessons and other activities, Bahiya would simply sit in a corner, wiping her little sister's face while she cradled the other in her arms. After time the teachers could not tell whether or not she was benefiting from the lessons at all. She would not speak in class, would never participate in a group or give any account of the last six months of her life. The staff decided to keep a closer eye on her and also, with permission from her mother, to find someone else in the camp to watch Bahiya’s sisters while she was at school. Something clicked, and the difference was loud and immediate. She walked in with a smile and seemed to learn all of her letters in one day. She made more friends than anyone else. Taking away the responsibilities of an adult instantly allowed her to be a child among children. In a recent evaluation with all the children, when asked who they thought had progressed the most the unanimous decision was Bahiya. The smile on her face was priceless. Her teacher said “I feel that while she used to believe that there was nothing more to life than taking care of house work and her sisters, now she knows that there is hope for something more. She recently came to me after class and said that she wanted lessons every day. She thanked us for coming to the camp. We both learned something. She has learned that she was still a child and that children are meant to live a different life than adults. I learned that a situation is only hopeless when you have no hope that it can be different”. Find out more about the Tent Schools we support for Syrian refugee children and read other stories about Lebanon.
Consider a donation to this work, either at our donate page or by texting EDGE16 and your amount (£1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10) to 70070. Take on a challenge and fundraise for the project. There are currently 28 Syrian refugee teachers at the tent schools we support for refugee children in Lebanon. These people are trained up from within the refugee camps and they not only teach, but are a source of help and advice for parents and the wider community. They are a force for good despite living in a situation completely out of their control.
“The teachers here speak the same dialect of Arabic as their students (often they're from the same or the neighbouring camp as the children), they get their culture, so nothing gets by them. The teachers are motivated to learn, motivated to be useful, and motivated to be a changing force in their communities.” Nadine - School’s Co-ordinator The teachers are creating a strong community atmosphere within the settlements and many are looked upon as leaders. These strong relationships between the parents, teachers and other adults in the communities are leading to higher than average attendance and retention rates within the schools. Teachers engage parents in education and to help them to understand the long term benefits for the children. We’d like to introduce you to four of these teachers, to give you an insight into their work and the amazing things they are achieving. Halima Halima is a teacher who has taught with us for two years now, and also works as a trainer. She describes her experience in the tent schools: “Our work is very focused. We work wholesomely, not just to educate the kids but to help them grow into better, more well rounded people. It’s also been really good to learn how to support our student’s growth in learning not to physically abuse each other, and learning about therapeutic methods to deal with what the kids have seen in war; learning about forgiveness. I’ve gained so much experience, and this job has encouraged me to grow not just as a teacher but also in my passions. I write stories and songs and poetry and use them to give the children more fun, creative resources to learn. As not just a teacher but also a mother to one of the students, I’m so glad that my son can read and write well, especially when I hear about other schools poor levels of education. I really like that we teach the children to make conclusions instead of pointing everything out to them". Mariam The teachers are regularly observed by our experienced teacher trainer whilst teaching a range of lessons and they receive constructive feedback. They are given time to meet and work with colleagues to plan and evaluate sessions and to share best practice. The class helper is also observed and they receive feedback to ensure they are able to enhance the teaching and learning and the overall classroom environment. One of the newer teachers from the third school, Mariam said: “It’s really amazing to see the change in our students compared to what they were like in the very beginning. Initially things were so rowdy, but now that some time has passed, they trust us more, they enjoy school and it’s made things better overall.” Hala Hala particularly likes the games and teaching methods used in the classes and the fact that the students have to discover the point of the lesson by themselves which gives them much more enjoyment. She likes that the teachers interact with the children and that the project and craft sessions regularly rotate, keeping the children interested. “The teaching style brings out the best in the teachers” she explains “it brings out qualities which are hidden in the Syrian teaching system and strengthens the children’s personalities. In this school environment the children have no fear, they are comfortable and talk a lot. They have the courage to speak and play. They are happy in school and they go home happy. I haven’t met a child who doesn't want to go to school, in fact many don’t want to go home at the end of the day”. All the teachers are provided with all the materials and resources they need; many they make themselves. Hala enjoys encouraging the children’s creative gifts and feels that through this the children become happy, encouraged and have motivation for life. “They gain courage to try new things. The children in my class want to be doctors and pilots and some of the girls want to be princesses!” she laughs, “We have some work to do on that one!”. Omad Omad finished his university degree in Syria and taught grade 9 science for a year before he had to leave for Lebanon. He has been in Lebanon for over 3 years and had found work in a factory. He now also works for the school 3 days a week, but has to continue working in the factory to support his income. He loves teaching and said that ‘if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t do it!’. He has enjoyed learning the new child-friendly methods of teaching and use of resources. He described how learning to teach in the camp schools and teaching in Syria is very different, the Syrian schools he has worked in have a frozen style of teaching and use rote learning. He says, “At first when I was asked to attend the teacher training I was offended. I felt I did not need training as I already had my teaching qualifications. However I found the training really useful and learnt a lot of new things about how to involve the children and use resources to help them to learn in a fun way using games and jokes”. The Syrian refugees we train as teachers for our camp schools in Lebanon receive a regular, reliable income which allows them to care and provide for their families. They all receive training and support to build their knowledge and teaching skills, enabling them to excel in their field. They will also be able to use these transferable skills in the future and are constantly learning from each other and developing their practice. You can find out more about the schools we support in Lebanon by going to our project page, and if you can, consider a donation to the work here. This afternoon Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK is organising a demonstration in front of the Burmese (Myanmar) Embassy in London as part of a global day of action, organised by the US based Burma Task Force. Demonstrations are also being held in Chicago, Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles and Stockholm. Rohingya organisations in more than 10 European countries are supporting the day of action, along with other organisations including Burma Campaign UK and Burmese Muslim Association UK. Four months after coming to power, the NLD led government has still not lifted severe restrictions on humanitarian aid delivery in Rakhine State. Government restrictions on aid are causing death and suffering for Rohingya and Kaman people living in squalid camps after being forced from their homes in 2012. Ethnic Rakhine, Rohingya, Kaman and all people in the State suffer because of the restrictions. Since increased violence and repression in 2012, Rohingya people have faced a worsening humanitarian situation. Restrictions on travel and lack of security have made growing and buying food much more difficult for Rohingya people. Restrictions on international humanitarian assistance to those in IDP Camps and the rest of Rakhine State also make the humanitarian crisis much worse. Since 2012, 140,000 internally displaced people have been trapped in camps which UN officials have described as having some of the worst conditions in the world. These restrictions and lack of security force Rohingya people to make long and sometimes dangerous journeys to find food. More than ten percent of the Rohingya population have fled Myanmar since 2012. Tun Khin, President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK said "Our people are dying in the camps where they fled to four years ago after they fled mobs burning their homes and villages. They are dying in part because the new government has kept in place severe restrictions on delivery of aid. The NLD-led government should immediately lift all restrictions on international humanitarian aid in Arakan State, and ensure security for aid workers.” Protestors are also calling on the international community, including the British government, to apply pressure on the NLD led government to lift restrictions on aid. You can add your voice by signing Burma Campaign's petition which calls on the NLD-led government to implement four steps to help end the repression against the Rohingya. Children on the Edge have supported the plight of the Rohingya for over 5 years, and are currently providing education to refugee Rohingya children living in enclave communities in Bangladesh.
Today is the World Day Against Child Labour. Launched in 2002 by The International Labour Organization (ILO) this is a day to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. Each year on 12 June, the World Day brings together governments, employers and workers organisations, civil society, as well as millions of people from around the world to highlight the plight of child labourers and what can be done to help them.
Children on the Edge combat child labour through the development of community led child protection, the provision of quality education and, when the need arises we facilitate more targeted work. The Bekaa Valley region where we support a number of tent schools for Syrian refugee children, is the area of Lebanon that hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees (378,000, or 35 per cent of all refugees), and it is also the region where the majority of informal tented settlements are located. This setting facilitates the massive recruitment of children into child labour, often undertaken by camp leaders to local employers. The Lebanese host communities in Bekaa are also among the most vulnerable communities in the country, making children more vulnerable to being exploited (1). The opportunity to learn in the tent schools provides a general level of protection from child labour, but because of the vulnerability of the Syrian refugee communities, there is a need for additional focus from the Mercy Foundation team. Teachers on the programme have picked up a lack of support from some parents who are facing poverty and do not understand the value of education in comparison with the chance of their children providing for the family. Education Co-ordinator Nadine Morcos said “Many of the parents are illiterate and many will only encourage the children to go to school if it is local and only up until they are able to work in the fields, or carpentry, or a mechanic shop etc. Many students leave school to work and to help parents and carers to support younger siblings this makes them feel older and more important and their peers look up to them because of it.” The team are targeting this by organising school events, parent visits to view the children’s work and to take part in their learning, and teacher-parent meetings to discuss school updates. They are also talking with local employers and looking to introduce a literacy programme for women and to involve parents in extra curricular activities such as art and crafts and holiday activities to help them to better engage with the programme. The potato harvest season is the time when exploitation is at its highest, often coming from camp leaders who make it a part of the rent deal. One way our partners have tackled this is the building of their own refugee camp, a safe place for families with fair rent contracts. In the other camps where the tent schools are situated, they have created contracts between the schools and the landowners stopping them from taking the children out of school to work. Find out more about the project Consider donating to this work Share this story with the hashtag #childlabour (1) ILO-UNICEF ‘Tackling child labour among Syrian refugees and their host communities in Lebanon’ 2015 Valuing and respecting children as individuals means not just providing the bare minimum of education, but tapping into their natural resources and talents, encouraging them to achieve the very best they can. We are delighted to be working with the British and Foreign School Society (BFSS) who are focussed on enabling children to achieve just this, and are partnering with us to scale up our current education programme in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.
BFSS was formed in 1808 to carry on the work of Joseph Lancaster, a pioneer of school and teacher education. Today they give grants for educational projects both in the UK and internationally and they are focused on widening educational access and opportunity and raising achievement. Dominic O’Reily, Director at BFSS says "BFSS currently has a focus on supporting education for children affected by armed conflict or natural disaster. This Children on the Edge project is just the sort of work we want to fund and we are delighted that so much progress has been made. I hope that we can grow our working relationship with Children on the Edge so that together we can provide educational support to children who are so desperately in need of it." Opportunities for Syrian refugee children to be educated at all are severely scarce, let alone a focus of raising achievement. This is why the contribution of BFSS to our current project in Lebanon is so vital. Widening educational access and opportunity Whilst integration into Lebanese public schools for Syrian refugee children is encouraged, there is not the capacity to adequately provide for everyone who needs it and many of the children we work with cannot travel safely to these schools. There have also been many reports of safety issues and children suffering from harassment, violence and discrimination which has led to poor retention rates. To fill these gaps, we work with our Lebanese partner to provide quality informal education to over 300 refugee children in Bekaa Valley and with the additional funding from BFSS, we are beginning to expand the programme by adding two new non-formal schools. With Syrian teachers trained up from within the camps the children will be learning in their own language, in a safe place where they can begin to recover from the trauma they have been through. Raising achievement Despite these ‘classrooms’ being tented structures in the middle of refugee camps, the standards of education are beginning to soar. In a volatile situation we have new children arriving all the time so they take part in initial assessments and prep classes before they officially enrol in a school. Once enrolled we monitor the academic progress of every child from the moment they join the programme. We have periodical exams to monitor progress and end of year exams which enable the children to move on to a higher level. The older children enrolled in the schools are able to attend our accelerated learning programmes which prepares them to pass the ALP exam, enabling them to attend a Lebanese public school or other educational provision if the opportunity arises. The curriculum that we work with is based on the Lebanese curriculum ensuring that the children are able to integrate both into the public school system and society as a whole. It incorporates elements of the Syrian curriculum to ensure that they will be able to reintegrate into Syrian life if the opportunity arises. The innovative mix of the two curriculums will help the Syrian children to retain a sense of national identity whist at the same time, preparing them to integrate into Lebanese or other international societies. Each school has a set of learning targets and levels that they work towards throughout the year in Literacy (Arabic), Maths (including numbers, shapes, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, graphs, decimal numbers geometry, probabilities, fraction problems and equations) and English (both reading and writing). The results Raising standards has already encouraged children to take extra pride in their work. One parent describing how “My kids are so happy here, they’ve made good friends and they feel settled. I also feel like they have grown in confidence and character. There have been a few times when the weather was bad and I told my son that he didn’t need to go to school. Instead of Ahmed being happy about it, he insisted that he go to school and that he didn’t want to miss out on anything. That’s really amazing.” Abd Al Karim, age 11 was talking to his teacher when he said “Miss, yesterday a group of foreigners came by and I spoke to them in English the whole time and we understood each other! It is this kind of pride and joy in learning that we are aiming to garner for these amazing children who are surviving in some of the most adverse conditions in the world. We are grateful to BFSS for enabling this to be a reality. Find out more about the schools in Lebanon |
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