Syrian Children’s Charity Focuses on Education

Children need all sorts of care to grow into responsible, compassionate adults. Along with health care, food security and love, quality education is among those key forms of care.

For Syrian refugees — whether internally or externally displaced — education is critical to gaining a sustainable livelihood. Among the internally displaced, roughly 2.45 million children inside Syria are out of school and 1.6 million are at risk of dropping out.

Of those who were externally displaced, more than 50% made their way to Turkey. For the Syrian refugees who went there, or any country with a different language, learning the local language is key to fitting into the society — especially at a young age.

And charities supporting Syrian refugees recognize just how important this is. Zakat Foundation of America, which has been providing aid to Syria since before the war, focuses not just on education, but on uplifting children from war’s effects.

For example, as a Syrian children charity, it sponsors at least 3,000 refugee children attending schools in Turkey at both the primary and secondary levels. Zakat Foundation of America education programs at those schools employ some 300 teachers and staff, all refugees.

Some of those children even live at the Muhammad Ali Safe House for widows and orphans, a Zakat Foundation of America project. The apartment complex provides a safe living space with learning facilities for Syrian refugees in Gaziantep, Turkey. Also in Gaziantep is Zahraa University, a Zakat Foundation of America project led by and for Syrian refugees to continue their higher education. 

A Syrian children charity not limited to traditional education

War creates long-lasting trauma that can — and usually does — affect children’s development. Just experiencing the war can be traumatic enough to stunt a child’s ability to learn.

Physical injuries sustained from the war can add further sensory and brain trauma. One way a Syrian children’s charity like Zakat Foundation of America works to counter that is through a form of mental health care that doubles as education. 

In Turkey’s Hatay Province, in the country’s far south near the Syrian border, Zakat Foundation of America’s free Sigharuna Kibaruna Clinic (Our Little Ones, Our Venerable Ones) treats hundreds of Syrian refugee children with specialized treatment for their mental and emotional trauma. Mental health care professionals work with these children directly to help them healthily work past what their innocent eyes have seen.

The clinic’s students receive expert help in cognitive training, speech therapy, and auditory and visual processing. Zakat Foundation of America’s partners in Turkey report that some of the students have already shown tremendous improvement in these areas, inspiring their peers as well as the clinic’s teachers to keep working hard to ensure these Syrian children receive their rightful opportunities. 

Creating a long-term impact

It’s not news that education gives children a wider range of opportunities as they grow up. It’s the responsibility of a Syrian children charity like Zakat Foundation of America to provide that opportunity. And so it does, and it will continue to do so. 

Zakat Foundation of America is a Better Business Bureau-accredited charity. Charity Navigator rates the humanitarian organization a four-star (out of four stars) charity and grades it a 100% when it comes to accountability and transparency. 

In 2021, 94¢ from each dollar donated to Zakat Foundation of America went directly toward programs serving those in need. 3¢ went to administrative costs, and 3¢ went to fundraising costs.

Give Syrian children charity today by going to a trusted organization like Zakat Foundation of America.