Meet the Syrians using education to escape the refugee camps

Originally published by NewStatesman and reprinted with permission.

“We are the lucky ones. Most had to give up their dreams of higher education” says 19-year-old Reema Nasser Al Hamad, whose family fled to Jordan five years ago when bombs destroyed her home in Dara’a, Syria. She shudders to think of the alternatives: aimless days spent sitting in a crowded caravan, or early marriage. “After the war, students in Syria lost their cities, their opportunities, and their futures, so many of the girls just married when they got here. There’s a huge difference between the lives of those who study and those who don’t.” Read more.