Za’atari Kids Village
Home to mainly women and children, Zaa’tari Village lies on the border between Syria and Jordan.
Situated less than 1km from Zaatari Refugee Camp, the village is largely left behind by the response to the humanitarian crisis, as most NGOs only operate in the camp itself.
The population of Zaa’tari village has grown massively since the start of the conflict in Syria began. It is estimated that the number of Syrian refugees living there now outnumber Jordanians. As a result, there is significant strain on the local infrastructure and economy.
We work closely with our partners at Acting For Change International to run an education centre for refugee children in Zaa’tari Village, Jordan.
Classes
Due to the conflict in Syria, many child refugees in Zaa’tari have missed out on vital years of education.
A team of dedicated teachers and volunteers (both from Zaa’tari Village and abroad) provide lessons to approximately 125 Syrian refugee children between four and fifteen years of age. Our aim is to help them to catch up on missed time, giving them the best chance at succeeding later in life.
The Building
For years, the makeshift education centre was regularly forced to relocate, as local people bought up the land where it stood for their homes or businesses. After so much instability in their lives already, the students deserved better.
Refugease used donations to purchase a plot of land, upon which the Education centre now stands indefinitely, offering security and stability to the centre’s learners.
Online Learning
During lockdown in 2020, the Jordanian government required all schools to close. We purchased every child their own tablet, so that they can continue their lessons online. Fortunately, the Jordanian government have recently relaxed Covid regulations and the children are now back at school.
Skateboarding
Many of the refugee children living in Zaa'tari Village have never been outside Zaa’tari and, outside of school hours, there’s little to keep them occupied.
Last summer, we sent 20 children to the 7Hills Skatepark in Amman each week. The kids travelled by minibus with their teachers and were taught the basics by the talented team who also run creativity sessions on the side. Suffice to say the opportunity to play and learn something new went down a treat!
Summer School
Last year, we hired two professional English teachers to run classes for the children during the summer holidays. English language is an important subject in the Jordanian curriculum, and the children may have access to better opportunities in the future with English language skills. The classes were such a great success that we’re continuing them indefinitely during term time too, alongside the children’s usual classes.
‘Back to School’ packs
After almost a year of disruption due to Covid, the education centre reopened for in-person lessons in September 2021. We provided every student (80 children) with a backpack filled with stationary and workbooks to give them the best possible start for the school year ahead.
Make a donation.
With your donations, we’ve purchased a plot of land for the education centre. We now want to purchase land for a sports field; can you help us?