It also offers summer courses during which children spend their time within that building to engage in educational activities. The home offers education from the kindergarten stage until the children move to another stage to pursue their education in Turkish public schools or with grants from some private schools in case the child does not have a temporary protection card (Kimlik). In another class, the Arabic language teacher tells the story of a historical hero to students between the ages of 9 and 14 in an attempt to feed their minds with values that would benefit them in their future.Įducation would support children and their mothers after leaving care homes, providing them with better opportunities, and giving them hope for a decent life that spares them the need for external support.Īccording to the lady in charge of the home, Alia Kassab Bashi, the home, as well as the association responsible for it, are placing education on top of the list of services provided to families residing in shelters.

Who can give me a word containing the letter Thaal?” The kindergarten teachers ask the children who raised their hands to ask permission to answer the question in lessons that lay the foundation stone of an educational journey. Kassab Bashi explained that having young male adults in that environment can cause discomfort for the child himself and for women and girls within the homes.Ī group of orphans in the al-Bukhari Home for housing orphans and their mothers in Istanbul – 19 July 2022 (Enab Baladi) Education is the child’s and mother’s supportĪt a time when leaving the shelter to live within a larger community is an inevitable necessity, children need several basic services that would qualify them for that stage and would protect them from the dangers of walking without a map of the new world and without guides. These procedures are not limited to the home where the volunteer works, as all Syrian and non-Syrian care homes set age limits for male residency, which Kassab Bashi deemed necessary in the presence of young girls and their mothers at the same homes. The volunteer in the al-Sham Association for Orphans Care and the person in charge of the al-Bukhari Home, Alia Kassab Bashi, told Enab Baladi the shelters are considered a passage for children and their mothers, explaining that male children leave homes at the age of 15, while the rest of the families leave when they are able to secure a decent life. They all talked about negative effects that are clearly visible in the children’s personalities before and after they leave those homes. Over the past years, many Syrian orphanages have emerged in Turkey and northwestern Syria to protect orphans whose numbers have increased recently.ĭespite the great need for such orphanages, children remaining in this environment can develop real problems in their personal lives, with implications for the entire community.Įnab Baladi met with children, mothers, and workers of orphan-care organizations and interviewed psychologists familiar with children’s lives in care homes.

The mothers chat while sitting at a crowded table with their carefully woven pieces.Īlthough the scenario of leaving the home at a certain age or circumstance is considered repetitive, the mothers to whom Enab Baladi has spoken expressed their fear of losing the small community. In one room, children’s laughter rises during the mothers’ gathering with the first woman who lived in the home to teach them the art of crochet, a kind of giving back to the home and its people after she was able to leave it, according to what Fatima Jarad (55) had told Enab Baladi. Children show their association with that place that brings them together, while they are oblivious to the moment of future goodbyes.

Cosmic prisons