“If I smile, my girls will too” – Nisreen from Jordan

Nisreen Hijazi is the director of Alramtha School in Jordan. The village of Al-Ramtha is in far northwestern Jordan and is known for its ritual poetries recited at wedding ceremonies.

“The girls hear wedding fireworks and think they are bombs. It is 1km away from the Syrian border, which you can see clearly from my office window. The fence and patrolling cars are visible, and many families have been split. We used to walk over to our families and have dinner and come back,” Nisreen explains.

The school took in 100 Syrian girls. It operates double shifts to accommodate the influx of Syrians fleeing war. On Saturday’s Nisreen and her teachers organize activities where surrounding schools who have also taken in Syrian students come and join. Her school is a model showcasing the ‘Madrasati Initiative’ which was initiated by the Queen Rania Foundation. “If I smile, my girls will too. They might forget all that they saw and their sorrows.”