October 5,

2013





Adla, Kawergosk refugee camp

www.ekurd.net







The school year is due to start soon in Kawergosk, and, for Adla it is the key to a better present, as well as a better future.



“I like school very much, because I want to help my father and mother,” she says, wiping tears from her eyes.



Quickly recovering her composure, Adla says her family is very grateful for the warm welcome her family has received in Iraq. And, although things are hard now, she knows that they will not always be this way.



“Someday I would like to be president of Iraq,” she says with a shy smile.



Nergiz, Baherka refugee camp



16 September 2013 – Nergiz Ibrahim, 29, has a composed demeanor and speaks English precisely – the result of an English degree from the University of Damascus.



This morning, in Baherka refugee camp, she’s wearing a T-shirt that marks her out as one of the volunteers who’s working with the camp’s children.



Baherka is a short drive from Erbil, down a winding country road lined with wheat fields. The camp’s in the grounds of a former concrete factory, a massive structure that dwarfs the tents that are now home to thousands of people.



This morning, the entrance of the camp is lined with visitors’ vehicles, and children are waiting excitedly to greet a battery of local officials, including UNICEF partner the Barzani Charity Foundation. The visitors are here to celebrate the opening of a new school, which will accommodate 150 students.



Nergiz is one of the reasons the school is able to open at all. She has joined several Syrian volunteers who have helped to ensure that the school was set up, and that the children who live here can gain a sense of normalcy that the classroom provides.



Nergiz is happy with her new life. She says she lacks for nothing and has more freedom than she used to.



“I enjoy my life here more than Syria. For three years, I couldn’t go out at all. We would stay home and watch television. In three years I didn’t see anything,” she says.



The school opens on September 22, at which time Nergiz will be in the classroom, keeping Syrian traditions alive and encouraging children’s dreams and ambitions.

“This group is very nice,” she says. “I enjoy the experience. I want to work as a teacher.”



Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, unicef.org

