For Syrian Refugee Children, Kindergarten Is A Safe Haven

“In kindergarten, they teach us the letters and the numbers, and we play together,” Mohammad, a wide-eyed 6-year-old, (below) tells a visitor to his class in Jordan’s Za’atari Refugee Camp. “When I grow up, I want to become a policeman and I am going to drive their beautiful cars with all the lights and sirens.” But first, he needs to feed his baby doll.

There’s so much to do in Mohammad’s new classroom, one of 54 new kindergartens built and equipped by UNICEF in Azraq and Za’atari refugee camps. These eager young students were born refugees, to parents forced out of Syria by violence. Their families gave up everything to find safety in Jordan, and their lives are still filled with uncertainty. But here in their kindergarten classroom, the students are free to play and learn, away from the pressures of life in a refugee camp…………….