MEET MAHMOUD

” My wife Maha and I are Kurdish and we have three children. Before coming to Lebanon, we used to live in Aleppo where I was running my own business. However, when bombing and attacks increased in Aleppo, we decided to move within Syria to protect our family. After a year and a half, attacks increased where we were staying so we decided to try to flee to Lebanon. There was no safety in Syria and the children couldn’t attend school or have a normal life.

Traveling to Lebanon was very difficult. We were travelling with nine other families and it took two days and two nights before we could reach the Lebanese borders, having crossed strenuous mountain roads and passed many checkpoints. We were in constant fear of being killed. At some point in our journey, we were even stopped by ISIS soldiers. The soldiers said ‘You are Kurdish and you are infidels, your punishment will be death’. The children and us were terrified and expecting to die at any time. The soldiers started asking religious questions to the families. After two hours, one of the soldiers came and said to let us go since some of us were Sunni Muslims. All the families were lucky because God saved us and gave us a new life.

We felt relieved when we finally arrived in Lebanon. We thank God that we were able to flee here, the people we escaped are very bad people, always armed and always cruel. In the beginning, our family stayed at a friends’ house in Beirut, before renting this small apartment up North where we are living now. We left everything behind in Syria; our house, our friends and family, my business. When we arrived in Lebanon, four years ago, we had nothing left. When we first moved in the house we had only one mattress which all five family members slept on, and only one blanket to cover ourselves from the cold of the winter.

Thankfully, soon after we moved North, our new neighbor told us about the nearby church learning centre. It was too late in the school year for the children to get registered in the official Lebanese school, but the neighbor informed us that the center still accepted registrations. When our children were able to enroll in the learning center, it had been two years since they had attended any school at all. My wife and I were overwhelmed with joy and hope when our children could finally get an education again. The biggest reason why we fled Syria was to give them an education and a chance of a better life.

We are so pleased with the church education center. When we meet the people from the church we feel comfortable, secure and happy because they take good care of the children. The church learning center is giving them security and teaching them about love and good behavior. Our children’s behavior changed since they started to go to the center. They love it, they always ask when school is starting and can’t wait for the end of the holidays. We hope they will live a happy life and we leave for them the liberty to choose their own destiny and life.”

When our children were able to enroll in the church learning center, it had been two years since they had attended any school at all. My wife and I were overwhelmed with joy and hope when our children could finally get an education again.

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