«People floating like pollen in search of more
fertile soil».
― Andrew Crofts, Secrets of the Italian Gardener
For many refugees around the
world, boredom (tediousness) is a fact of life.
While the United Nations
High Commission on Refugees – or UNHCR – works on resettling them, they wait.
And wait. And wait. They cannot work, enroll in a school or travel.
In 2014, several Hazara
refugees in Indonesia found a way to spend their time. They created an informal
school for children: the Refugee Learning Center, or RLC.
Asad Shadan is one of the
founders of the RLC. He left Afghanistan after the Taliban threatened his
family.
Shadan says that starting
the school was a difficult process: "We asked the UNHCR to help us with
some kind of educational program for three months, but after getting no
response, we decided to just go for it and started a class on our own with 18
kids."
The school's website
describes how the local and international community came together to help it
grow.
An Australian couple paid
the rent for the school. Parents gave $2.50 each to pay for carpet, whiteboards
and other teaching materials. Women in the community volunteered to teach.
The program, originally an
informal class, has grown into a six-room school with classes for adults and
children.
The program, Shadan
explains, grew quickly. "Within six months we had 100 children enrolled,
and now we have 200 students and 16 teachers. It gives all of us something to
do."
Thanks to donations over the
past couple of years, RLC now has a library, English classes and an
indoor football league.
[More in]
Presenta:
M.C. Enrique Ruiz Díaz.
Con título y cédula profesional
5632071 en la Maestría en Ciencias de la Computación.
Egresado del Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba. Veracruz, México.
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