The Uneducated Generation
What would you see if you saw life through the eyes of a Syrian refugee child? This is a question we don’t ask, and it’s one that few of us know the answer to. The Syrian refugee children, living in Lebanon, have been exposed to more horrors than American adults see in the media. Americans hear "Middle East" and think air strikes, ISIS, and terrorism. These are issues we have been conditioned to think about by the media and politics, but in reality, it is the forgotten lives of the millions of refugee children living in the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon that deserve more thought.
Abdel was seven when he left his home in Syria. Leaving their father behind to protect their small home, Abdel and his mother and two younger siblings moved to live in a small camp on the border of Lebanon and Syria. Seven year old Abdel has been forced to assume the role of "man of the house." That house is a small tent with a concrete floor and no furniture. By nature of the
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Up to 1.1 million Syrian refugees are packed into the tiny country of Lebanon; fifty percent of those are children, and most have no access to school. An entire generation of Syrians is growing up in severe poverty, being exposed to extreme violence and crime, and being given no access to education. The short term and long term effects of this are devastating. The refugees of Syria bring to life a huge issue in Lebanon. These Children need education, and Lebanon needs teachers. The opportunity for individuals around the world to impact a generation of children is only increasing. The conflicts that ripple through the Middle East leave millions of children in their wake, but very few teachers to educate them. This paper will examine the need of these children for education, the importance of education in building a more stable and peaceful world, and the opportunity that teachers have to make that