Here is a real-life story of a young girl, Shahed Zuhair Othman, a 15- year-old, coming from a big family, three sisters, three brothers and the parents.

 The family had to flee to Al-Boubiyeh village for one year due to force majeure in Al-Hader village, the family’s home town.

 Harsh circumstances negatively affected Shahed and she dropped out of school for two years. 
The outreach volunteers attached to the Syrian Society for Social Development introduced the offered services to Shahed and she decided to visit Al-Hader Satellite Center to get to know all the programs. 
The facilitators closely observed Shahed during the educational classes and noticed her poor mental wellbeing and her fear about her educational future, until one day their efforts started to pay off, when the Geometry facilitator asked the students to assist him in solving a geometric problem.

 Shahed seemed hesitant, she raised her hand and then backed off, but the facilitator kept encouraging her, until she was able to recall some of the related rules. “I never thought I would be able to recall very old stuff,’’ she happily said.

 
Later on, in one of the Arabic language classes, Shahed read aloud a poem and the facilitator was impressed. “Each day I read aloud several lines of poetry at home; I am practicing to regain my skill,” Shahed proudly commented.

 
As for the French language, the facilitator noticed that the children showed lack of interest due to the absence of qualified language specialists; nonetheless, the children gradually showed substantial improvement, particularly, Shahed who was among the top students in the language, encouraging her classmates and assisting them in learning.

 
The improvements of Shahed’s emotional wellbeing and educational level were great milestones; however, passing the national exam of the ninth grade was a cornerstone that made her and everyone else proud and happy.

 She received a total mark of 165 and 18 in French.

 
Shahed is still determined to build up her educational reservoir, up-to-date she does not get bored of visiting Al-Hader center.

Fatima and Aisha, nine-year-old twins, fled with their family from eastern rural Aleppo to Jaramana city in Damascus. They were stripped of all what they possess, including their education, safety, friends, and the foundations that provide the twins’ most basic rights, and were left with nothing but diffidence.
After the SSSD’s ORV team spotted the twins, they invited their parents to register at the Athr Alfarasha Community Center in Jaramana. There, the Child Protection case manager met with the parents and got more informed of Fatima and Aisha’s situation, who both suffered from deprivation. "Even though the school is for free, I can’t afford registering them.

I used to be a sewing teacher and had a shop, now I am incapable of even buying them a biscuit!”, said the father. 
The case manager held individual sessions with both children, as an essential step for a comprehensive and in-depth evaluation of their situation. She then developed an intervention plan tailored for the twins, in partnership with them and their father.

Fatima and her sister were accordingly integrated into the Mentoring Programme group, and referred to the Educational Department and the appropriate events and campaigns.

Also, both children will be enrolled in school as of the next academic year. Since Child Protection works in parallel with the child and his caregiver, the father was referred to the Small Business Grants Programme so that he could return to his sewing career, thereby ensuring the basic needs of his family, and especially his daughters.

After a period of Fatima and Aisha joining the activities, the facilitators noticed a significant improvement in their ability to discuss and express themselves. One of them expressed herself by saying:” Oh how I wish father had brought us to you way before.

When my sister and I come back home and hang our drawings or anything else we have made on the wall, we feel so proud of ourselves once we see our guests’ reactions and how impressed they are with our work.

Our joy is beyond words, we are so excited to go to school and carry backpacks like all the other children.”
Fatima and Aisha’s father finally got the approval for his project. He expressed his joy by saying:” I feel like a young boy reborn once again. My love for life and ambition both came back to me.

I became able to think about what I can give to my family. Everyone at home is laughing once again. Additionally, Fatima and Aisha got back the father they deserved: a supporting, strong, protective dad they had lost before.” 

Bayan is a 14-year-old displaced from Jissr Alshoughour to Lebanon. Like all displaced children, she left school without attending any other, but one of the NGOs there helped her learn how to read and write. Several years later, Bayan and her family, except her father, moved to al-Hameh in Rural Damascus. There, Bayan’s mother went to the al-Salam Community Center seeking help and the benefit from the Livelihood Programme.

Based on the family needs that Bayan’s mother registered, her daughter was referred to the Child Protection case manager. During the interview, the mother talked about her daughter, who, in addition to the problem of dropout, suffered from a significant hearing loss of up to 70%. The latter greatly affected her articulation, psychological state and made her suffer from severe nervousness resulting from the inability of others to understand what she wanted. With the mother's consent, the case manager interviewed Bayan and noticed how introverted and unresponsive she was. She also discovered that the only way to communicate with Bayan was through drawing, which she excelled at.

Consequently, a plan was developed by the case manager, in partnership with Bayan’s mother. Accordingly, Bayan was integrated within the individual reinforcement sessions, where the Education Department Supervisor assigned a volunteer to accompany and teach her for four months. In addition, Bayan was referred to two programmes: The Informal Education Programme, where she was taught how to write, and the Psychosocial Intervention through puppetry Programme. Despite all the difficulties Bayan encountered in talking and communicating with her peers in the group, she was very committed and found an alternative and very special means of communication through drawing, where she helped teach her peers how to draw and concluded the session by making a distinguished doll.

After a period of continuous work and follow-up of Bayan’s progress and responsiveness, which was punctuated by the coordination between facilitators, activity supervisors and the Child Protection case manager, and Bayan’s cooperation and persistence in overcoming all obstacles and difficulties; Bayan became an extrovert and active member in all the Child Protection activities. There, she started participating with her peers in dance activities as well as activities implemented at Dar al-Karama for Elderly and People with Specific Needs Care.

To top it all off, Bayan was referred to the International Medical Corps (IMC) and offered a hearing aid, because her hearing was our priority. Also, there was a coordination with the Deaf and Mute School so that she could register there with the help of one of the center’s volunteers. After passing the placement test, she was enrolled in 7^th grade.

Bayan’s mother expressed her daughter’s progress by saying:” Bayan changed drastically. She started articulating letters she was never able to utter, and I started depending on her more-just like her other siblings- especially after she became able to distinguish the days and pronounce words from her siblings’ books.”

Rabih is a 13-year-old boy who lives with his small family in Ras al-Naba'a in the city of Banias, belongs to a poor social environment in which the head of household works as a builder while the mother is a housewife.

He was born blind and away from the simplest means of communication and education because the lack of knowledge of his parents about the possibility of joining the school, but the ORVs team was able to reach the case of the child and introduced him and his family to SSSD and its programs, especially regarding the blind, where Rabih parents expressed their desire to benefit from the Community center Beit al-Yasmin.
The child and his mother were invited to attend one of the sessions in the community center for Activating the Blind and during his first visit with his mother, his case was examined by the case manager at Beit al-Yasmine at the presence of the facilitators of the sessions.

After assessing the need, the case management team joined Rabih in the Friendship Group for Blind Children. In that visit, Rabih and his mother knew about the Braille machine for writing and reading for blinds. They also learned about the activities that are carried out at the center that aim to develop the personality of the blind in a way that allows him to interact with the surrounding society the thing that encouraged him to commit to the friendship group hosted by Beit al Yasmine.

At first, the facilitators noticed that Rabih had a state of hesitation and fear through speaking in a trembling, low voice and rejecting any request directed at him and by walking with a twist as well as confusion and hesitation in the steps. The facilitators began to activate Rabih and rehabilitate him in order to interact confidently by applying games that develop personal skill and give him courage.

After some time, the child was able to interact with the facilitator gradually and began to respond to the requests of the facilitator regarding implementing the activity and then define the directions to him and move in the activity room according to the direction that he was asked to go to, through using music to move in the required direction.
After a month, facilitators implemented a sporty activity to enhance his confidence by walking straight and using the directions quickly in addition to strengthen his courage to step fast through focus points such as ropes or walls of the room.

During the second month, the facilitators began to introduce the child to Braille system for writing and reading. His mother attended the sessions in order to help him with response. With the assistance of the facilitators and his mother's, Rabih managed to memorize the number of each letter in an excellent way, which became clear through his test at each of Braille sessions.

In each session, the facilitators conducted a debate between the beneficiaries so that each one asked his friend about a certain letter and then his friend answered with the number of the letter that asked him. Then he checked for his friend. This gave Rabia an opportunity to develop his character further when he felt superior to his friends.

He also received a course in mental arithmetic using the abacus Within the program of intellectual development by conducting calculations by touching the abacus and knowing the number of beads. He liked the idea a lot because it has a kind of competition with his blind companions. Conducting mental arithmetic at a speed created a kind of zeal with which he was cared for and developed repeatedly until he was able to do the calculation through imagination and without using the abacus.

This led to introduce a state of joy and hope to his life, he rejoices greatly in every calculation, especially when the answer is correct, which gave him a self-confidence and increased his brain capacity after being slow and suffering from being alone with his mother at home, he emerged from the darkness of life to light with his activities and skills that began to develop little by little.

It is noted that Rabih did not miss any session since his first visit to the CC, moreover, he was calling if the bus delayed to take him to the center. He also showed a desire to follow up on teaching and achieving his dream of obtaining a certificate of basic education. As he moved from the stage of hesitation and fear to activity and interaction so that he tells, in every session, a story or read aloud.
Rabih is a child whose circumstances did not allow him to exercise his right of education despite having potential capabilities, but the team of the Syrian Society for Social Development- Beit al- Yasmine- managed to restore hope for a bright future through what he received of advantage and rehabilitation.


Facilitators: Mamdouh Deepw – Ghenwa Alshmali – Nermen Sayouh – Ibrahim Msalam – Fatat Mouhamad.