Ahmad, 17-year-old, Al Salam School student
“I have been here for 4 years. My brother was searched by the government in Idleb for organizing peaceful protests, so we had to flee to Turkey. My brother stayed here but my family and I lived between Reyhanli and Idleb for two years, I studied in two different schools, one in Reyhanli and one in Idleb. I managed to pass but it was difficult to juggle between both schools.
But last year, when I started studying at Al Salam School, I decided to stick to this school and not to go back to Syria. In the previous school I used to go to in Reyhanli, the teachers didn’t care about Syria’s future, they just wanted to have a job. Here the environment is great and the teachers are kind… I mean, to be honest, I’m not really the type who can just study for hours and hours, I think of too many things, I get distracted… But Al Salam has taught me to love school, to value it. Al Salam introduces us to new things, we get to meet people from all over the world – volunteers, guests…. All this really encourages me to stay here, to focus on my studies and not think of going back to Syria again… I mean, I do want to go back to Syria but not right now, only once things are better. Al Salam school has taught me that we cannot live without schools, we cannot build anything without getting an education first.”