The Syrian girl dreams of one day becoming an Olympian champion in the Korean combat sport. She has been doing taekwondo for three years, the same amount of time she has been living in the refugee camp Zaatari in Jordan.
Three days a week, Yamama attends the Taekwondo academy in the refugee camp, where her father, Abu Ibrahim, is the trainer.
"Yamama loves it. She doesn't miss a single practice," he says proudly.
"It could have been my children"
Yamama comes from the city Dara’a, in the south of Syria, only a few kilometres from the border to Jordan. Three years ago, after a school building in the neighbourhood was bombed and four children killed, Yamama's father decided that the family should flee.
"I know it just as well could have been my children lying under the ruined school building," he says. They packed one change of clothes each, and left.
If was difficult fleeing with four children. They walked through several cities, and slept outside at night. After three days, they arrived at the border. From there, they were transported to the refugee camp Zaatari, approximately 20 kilometres away. The family was happy to arrive at a safe place, far away from aerial attacks and gunshots.
Seven years old and a refugee
Yamama was seven years old when they arrived in Jordan. The little girl had left her school, her friends and her home in Syria.
"All I knew was that we had to leave," she remembers.
Yamama is now among the best students in the school in Zaatari, and she has a red belt in taekwondo.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) gives children and youth in Zaatari access to education. We run schools, build classrooms and teach children and youth Arabic, maths and English, in addition to sports and other leisure activities. We also provide youth with vocational training.
Education is an important part of the family's life, and their father has made sure that the four eldest of the six siblings – big brother Ibrahim, Yamama and two younger twin sisters – gets to attend school in the refugee camp. Yamama also has two baby brothers born in Zaatari.
"They need a future"
Yamama wants to go back to Syria and open a taekwondo school where girls like her can learn the sport. Even though she is unsure if she will ever return home to Syria, she hopes that she will.
On a small cabinet in a corner of the small wooden hut that is now their home, sits many medals and trophies. Yamama's father, who has a university degree in athletics, wants to encourage his children to do well in school and in sports.
"My children need a future. I refuse to accept that their lives will come to a halt here, and no one knows when we can go home," he says.
