Dream of a girl in Lebanon refugee camp

by Ren Ke

BEIRUT, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Every afternoon, 12-year-old Sahar Karmo goes to the Youth and Children's Center in Beirut's Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp for free education.

Having quit school recently, Karmo believes her dream of becoming a teacher when she grows up may still come true by attending the children's center, which is not a formal school but a training institution for children who perform poorly in schools.

She was among 10 children from around the globe selected for their bravery, environmental awareness, and their cravings for education.

The selection is part of a global campaign launched by Xinhua News Agency and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations on Nov. 20, 1989.

Reading time in the children's center is now the happiest moment in Karmo's everyday life. After the lessons, she reads cartoons and fairy tale books in the library till half past four, when it is time to go home to prepare for supper.

Children in fairy tales and cartoons always have a happy life, living in luxury villas and traveling around by cars and planes. But the refugee camp-born Karmo cannot even dream of it -- she lives in a 20-square meter room with her parents and three younger sisters and has never gone out of Beirut.

Before dropping out of school, Karmo attended a private school outside the camp. However, when Karmo's younger sisters reached school age, the family, with a monthly income of less than 1,000 U.S. dollars, could no longer afford the annual school fees of nearly 500 dollars for each child.

As the eldest child, Karmo was asked by her mother to stay at home and do housework.

A child of a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, Karmo cannot attend free-of-charge schools run by the UN Refugees Works Agency (UNRWA). What is worse, her father has no identification cards, preventing her from entering Lebanese public schools, which are also free.

She wants to become a teacher in the future, giving more poor children access to education. Even now in the children's center, she often helps the younger children to study.

But now, she has to stay at home, watching her friends going out every morning with school bags on their back. She envies the children who can share their experience in schools after they finish school and go to the children's center. All she can share now is the everyday housework.

"I cannot go to school now, so that I cannot become a teacher when I grow up. I don't know what I can do in the future," Karmo said, habitually trying to cover a large scar on the back of her right hand caused when cooking.

She has pleaded in vain with her mother to return to school several times.

"We have applied for ID cards to the authority, but no one answers us. Who cares for us?" said Karmo's mother.

"I envy those children who can travel around and see different things. But I have no ID cards, so I cannot get a passport, let alone traveling," said Karmo.

"Look at these children!" the Youth and Children's Center's director Abu Mujahad said, pointing to a group of children who were fighting with sticks and throwing stones at each other after arguments over a football game.

"We should not blame these children for behaving badly, but who on earth is responsible for it?" Mujahad said.

Two thirds of Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon cannot graduate from high schools due to poor education quality and inadequate financial support, Mujahad said, adding that only three percent of refugee students enter universities.

Many children start their careers at an early age, being heavily exploited. Some of them become child workers, but cannot find jobs when they grow up, Mujahad said.

Mujahad's office in the children's center is filled with documents and books about children's rights.

He has participated in numerous seminars and workshops for improving refugee children's living and education standards.

The seminars, workshops and documents all planned a promising future for the children, but the real situations had not changed much, he said.

"Refugee children's rights are not in conversations or books, but in the field," said Mujahad. "A playground or a lecture on children's rights, which one do you think these children prefer?"