Update from Maggie July 2017
We wanted to get this second training centre
off the ground as soon as possible and the location of this facility is vital.
It must serve the area of Arsal which is most deprived in terms of access to
any form of training or education. Suitable buildings in this area are hard to
come. So, with the funds raised by the London auction, EDA has set up a
training facility for a large camp population in a new school building which
has not yet opened. The building offers all the necessary space and
will not function as a school until the new term begins at the end of
September. During the summer, we will use this space to provide a women’s
workshop and also some more vocational training for young men. We are now in a
position to fund the costs of opening the school building during the summer
months which is great news for people. The funding will be used to pay the
basic salaries of the Syrian refugee trainers. They will run 2- 3 month
courses, in effect a duplication of what is offered at the main centre.
We will see how this works out over the next
few months but the school manager and our team have already been putting
together a team of Syrian trainers and moving some equipment into the building.
We will review the use of this school building as the new term begins to see
how efficiently it functions as a second training centre. If an appropriate and
affordable premises becomes available in this same area of Arsal we may
consider this as an option in the future.
The idea may be that even when the school begins functioning at the end
of September from 8am - 1pm, the building can be used for the rest of the day
for vocational training and workshop activities. Using the school means we pay
no rent so we can look at funding a wider range of vocational courses,
particularly for young men from these quite difficult camps.
Education
- We also plan to run ‘catch up ‘classes for the considerable number
of children in these camps who have missed up to 3 years of schooling. Maths,
Arabic and English will be the basic subjects covered. Teachers for these
classes will receive a small salary of around 200$ a month. We have been
running similar classes at the main centre. Text books will be needed as will
writing materials and some motivational prizes for the children attending these
classes. We would hope that these classes will prepare the children for
slotting into their appropriate age range groups in September. The outlay for
these ‘Catch Up’ classes is estimated to be around 3500$ over the next 3
months. This is an estimate because we may be able to get hold of text books
from the Ministry of Education. The text books used for the summer classes
will then be added to the amount needed to be purchased for the launch of full
classes for the new school year in September.
Women’s
Workshop - We have begun to set up the Women’s workshop,
sewing machines are being moved in along with the necessary accessories for a
women's workshop and we have a committee from the camps to discuss what
training will be most useful. We need to buy long work tables for the
machine work and the laying out of material to be used for a range of
craft/clothes items. Again, we will pay a similar salary for the trainer who
will be selected and interviewed from the surrounding camps. The outlay for this
will be around 3,000$.
First Aid
courses - A 3-month women's First Aid course, run by our doctor from the
main centre, is starting very soon as will Women's Health Awareness classes
which have been packed out at the other main facility. The women on the
advanced first aid course also receive special kits when they pass the course
test after 3 months - this means that they can deal with frequent medical
problems in the camps, an advantage when there is such a serious lack of even
basic emergency medical care available. Each of these fairly comprehensive
First Aid kits cost around 30$ and again since the London funding we have
bought 30 of these kits. As the trainees are from many different camps it means
that there is at least one trained woman and a kit in each camp.
Vocational
Training - With the funds raised, we have bought more tool kits for the
domestic electrician's training courses in our main centre. These kits add
quite an expense to each course - each one costs around 50$ and each successful
trainee gets one. Since the Auction funding became available we have purchased
around 40 of these kits. I ‘dropped in '
on several camps on my May/June trip and found that our trainees had set up
small workshops within the camps and were using their EDA tool kits to fix
electrical items brought to them and also to fix electrical problems in nearby
buildings. They have been able to earn a small income from this informal
employment and this is exactly what we hoped to achieve. Every young person that can get informal
employment and meaningful occupation means another young person removed from
the temptations of joining the militant groups.
Satellite
Craft centres - We
are also setting up some satellite sewing/craft centres in many of the camps
which have now been provided with an Activity Tent. The women that have
attended the 2-month sewing training courses now act as instructors themselves
in their particular camps and supervise the machines and the camp women who
want to learn the necessary skills to make or repair family clothing. We have
machines available for this purpose and the supervisor receives a small payment
for doing this particular job. In this way, learned skills are dispersed to the
wider camp community. The scheme is monitored by one of our team at the main
centre. We estimate that we will spend around 2000$ depending on the materials
needed.
I'll
be sending further updates on these developments as the year progresses and on
the expanding range of vocational training we hope to be able to offer after
the summer.
EDA
also has to bear in mind the ongoing security situation in the town. On
occasions this can affect what we are able to do at certain times. We continue
to take advice so that our management staff can stay safe.
With
huge thanks Maggie (EDA)
