Islam is ten years old and full of dreams. She loves English and hopes to become an engineer one day. She wants to help her father fix things around their caravan and rebuild their home when they return to Damascus. Islam arrived in Azraq camp after fleeing Syria with her family in 2014. She was only two months old.
Hope in every lesson: how learning support builds more than skills
Today, she attends the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) learning support classes – which include maths, English, and Arabic. While Arabic used to feel very difficult for her, Islam now feels more confident with every lesson.
As part of the classroom experience, Islam and her classmates also take part in the Better Learning Programme (BLP). The BLP introduces simple breathing and focus exercises that help children manage stress and regain a sense of calm. For many, including Islam, these routines offer a quiet but powerful way to feel safer, more in control, and ready to learn - especially amid the uncertain reality of camp life.
Today, she attends the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) learning support classes – which include maths, English, and Arabic. While Arabic used to feel very difficult for her, Islam now feels more confident with every lesson.
As part of the classroom experience, Islam and her classmates also take part in the Better Learning Programme (BLP). The BLP introduces simple breathing and focus exercises that help children manage stress and regain a sense of calm. For many, including Islam, these routines offer a quiet but powerful way to feel safer, more in control, and ready to learn - especially amid the uncertain reality of camp life.
At home, Islam is the second of four sisters. When she’s not studying, Islam is always on the move - riding her bicycle, playing football, drawing, or helping her father, Faisal, around the caravan.
“Syria is beautiful. It’s our country,” she says, “We will have to rebuild our house if we return.”
Her father, Faisal, has been working with NRC since 2016 and is now the head of the education unit in Village three in Azraq camp. Before the crisis, he worked in customs clearance in Syria and lived in his family’s two-story home in Damascus Countryside. Now, however, his house is barely standing.
These days, Faisal and his wife - who recently completed her graduate studies in English literature - are both dedicated to supporting the camp community. Years ago, Faisal volunteered with NRC to provide psychosocial support to Syrian students in the camp and later worked as a trainer before assuming his current role.
Faisal worries about the future. “The cost of living in Syria nowadays is too high,” he says. “Finding a job that provides an income is very challenging. I do not feel safe taking my daughters back to Syria right now. My brothers tell me: ‘wait a while longer until things feel safer’. It’s still chaotic there.”
Thanks to support from EU Humanitarian Aid, NRC’s learning support classes are giving Islam and her classmates the skills and confidence to build a better future - wherever it it may take them.
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