Eurorelief launched its education department in the Mavrovouni refugee camp on Lesvos in 2021. Currently, we teach English to both minors and adults five days a week, run an English literacy program called Mothers Toddlers, facilitate extracurricular classes such as art, science, music, and geography and we also have a library inside the camp.

 

Our primary focus as a Eurorelief education department is to create a safe and consistent environment for the students we teach. We believe that the students cannot fully learn and retain new information until their physiological and safety needs are first met. Since those needs are often not met in camp, our first goal is to create an environment where children feel safe and secure and our secondary goal is English learning. 

 

Throughout the past few years, we have interacted with students on every part of the spectrum of trauma and have seen how both education and a structured environment can provide a child with much more than a new language or improved math skills. Educational programs within the camp help children learn social skills and foster collaboration between people from different parts of the world. It is our great joy to see children start to become aware of their feelings as they express them through art or can communicate it through a learned language. We have witnessed children grow in confidence not only in their skills or abilities but of themselves. 

 

One student named MH was having many issues interacting with other students, being violent and disruptive to the learning environment. However, once given the freedom of choice in class and entrusted with a leading role in the class, MH became a student who excelled and encouraged others in their work as well. 

 

Our adult English classes have a different dynamic. Very seldom do we deal with behavioral issues but just the same, we see how learning the language provides people with confidence and autonomy in a camp where people have very little choice. A student from Syria named JA came into camp with a very basic knowledge of English and within weeks outpaced the curriculum and became the honorary classroom interpreter for the students who speak Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish, and even was able to help with a bit of Farsi.