indoor playground.
Teaching through trauma
Refugees have restricted access to employment. This is a source of both frustration and stress which can manifest in incidents of domestic violence. All refugees struggle with unemployment but recent arrivals from Syria are most vulnerable as they are still establishing their lives in the camp and trying to fit into already crowded spaces.
“Sometimes men can’t find work to support their family. There are two, three or even four families living together. This affects relationships between husband and wife. Between brothers. Between parents and children,” Mirna says. She describes how this plays out in the classroom. “I have some cases of children who see their father hitting their mother. This leads to that child coming to class and not integrating in activities.”
To help address these issues, Sara uses strategies like circle time to build trust with her students. They talk about things that happen to them at home. Sara also uses drawing to help children express feelings and to understand more about their situation. These strategies help identify trauma with cases then referred on to Mirna.
Mirna helps train and support teachers to use psychosocial support activities developed by the United Nations refugee school, while Suha ensures staff are updated on any new developments. Though children are the primary target of these activities, they have a positive impact on the whole community. Both Mirna and Suha work closely to support families through home visits and weekly meetings over coffee at the centre.
Sara uses many resources to teach her class including arts and crafts, videos, flashcards and picture books. She makes the children feel proud by displaying their work on the wall for everyone to see. The current class theme is ‘winter’ so the walls are decorated with penguins. Sara is teaching the children about winter vegetables and how soup is important for their bodies to feel warm. PWHO also provides a healthy breakfast daily as it “helps children concentrate and feel less hungry,” Mirna says.
International donors fund health, nutrition, youth and women’s projects in the camps. Funds from Australia also support after school retention classes for children having difficulty in primary school. There is a special class for 20 children with serious disabilities who cannot access Lebanese services.
Space to play
In the camp, access to safe outdoor spaces is a challenge. Twice a day, Sara’s class navigate a series of stairs in single file to access an indoor playground on the third floor. A slide, see saw, and swings await them in a sparse concrete room with high windows covered with safety cage.
Children in Sara’s class participate in growing vegetables six times a year with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to take them by bus to a parcel of land outside the camp. Meanwhile, another project funded by Australian donors takes 100 children out of camp each week to learn to play football.
Workloads and wages
Sara works around eight hours per day, six days per week, year-round. Leave is only taken on public holidays like Eid ul Fitr and Christmas Day. It is illegal for refugees to own or rent outside of the camp so most staff live in the camp. Sara and her colleagues are paid by PWHO in US currency. Inflation is excruciating but the wage is enough to cover rent and food. Early childhood teachers in camp have the added pressure of ensuring that children learn enough to be able to enrol in school.
Early education delivered by teachers like Sara with psychosocial support from Mirna plays an essential role in giving refugee children a brighter future.
