June Update
Dear Supporters,
Happy June! We're excited to share with you what's been going on at The Syria Fund!
UPDATE ON SONGS FOR SYRIANS
We are off to Jordan in less than a month. During the last week of June, we’ll be hosting Songs For Syrians, a music workshop for 105 students and their teachers at our partner school in Azraq, Jordan. The students in our program will learn to play the recorder along with basic music theory and dance. We are especially excited to host a concert and celebration at the end of the workshop to let these great kids show off everything they’ve learned.
With an emphasis on teacher training, we plan to set up a program that can grow and thrive for years to come in Azraq and at our other partner schools across Northern Jordan!
But our program isn’t just in Jordan. We are thrilled to have two school groups in Connecticut and New York participate in the program by learning and performing Syrian music at their schools!
The Syria Fund is currently raising money to purchase musical instruments, hire and train music teachers and expand this valuable arts program.
life skills trainings
Last month, The Syria Fund partnered with MECI to host Life Skills Trainings for 200 Syrian and Jordanian teenage girls. The trainings were designed to encourage the development of leadership, community engagement and teamwork skills.
Trainees took initiative by identifying issues affecting their communities and creating their own strategies to respond. This ranged from discussion groups to improve social cohesion and communication between Syrian refugees and local Jordanians to helping clean up their communities and bring art to public spaces. Pre and post-assessments measured the impact the course had on the trainees. We are pleased to say that 96% of these young women demonstrated an improvement in their life skills! We will continue to work with MECI to host more programs like this in the coming months.
“I really feel that since the training my Jordanian peers are more aware of the fact that we should help each other out because we have gone through trauma and so many difficulties since the crisis started in Syria. We only fled to look for peace and security. I want to say to the youth in Jordan, whether Syrian or Jordanian: Grab chances and enjoy every moment, Peace is a blessing.
”
EXPANDING EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Over the past 9 months, we’ve worked closely with HRJ and WHA to set up education spaces that today host over 200 children, most of them Syrian refugees, in three tented schools and three portable classrooms in East Badia, Jordan.
To build on the success of these six classrooms, we are now looking to expand even further to reach the hundreds of Syrian children who remain out of school in this desolate area of Northern Jordan. Our partners have identified a large house that, with the support of The Syria Fund, they will look to renovate and turn into a school that can host up to 150 children. We’ll have more information on this in the coming weeks!
updates from the border
In January, we emailed you a request for contributions to support humanitarian relief efforts for thousands of families trapped on the border between Syria and Jordan.
As the fighting continues in Syria, more families flee to this makeshift camp on the border. Today there are nearly 60,000 individuals who are living in critical, at-risk conditions. Working with HRJ and WHA, we continue to respond to this serious humanitarian crisis by providing hundreds of food packages, hygiene items and other critical aid every month.
how you can help
Your continued support is more crucial than ever to ensure refugees have the help they need to get their lives back on track. Here are three simple ways to get - and stay - involved today.
- Follow the latest updates on The Syria Fund's response to the refugee crisis
- Share Your Voice. Tell your friends and family (and us!) why you care about helping Syrian refugees and tag us @thesyriafund.
- Donate today. You'll help us expand education programs and get more children back in school, distribute desperately-needed supplies and help families heal from the trauma of this crisis.
Supporter Beryl shares her voice at a TSF fundraiser in Westport, CT
Thank you for your continued support and for all that you do!
Best,
Lexi, Demetri and The Syria Fund Team