Fawaz Shardoop
Education is Everything
My name is Fawaz, and I am from Idlib, Syria. I was only ten years old when I left Syria with my parents and siblings. I will never forgive the war that took not just my home, but my father’s ability to hear and walk.
I am the oldest of my six siblings, so I grew up with the responsibility to help my mother around the house — taking care of my sisters and brothers — while my father walked the streets selling tissue boxes. Before my father’s physical treatment to help him walk again, my sister Nermin would go help him sell tissue boxes. None of us went to school around that time.
We joined Karam when the Karam Families team offered to help my father repair his hearing aid. It was difficult to communicate with him when he couldn’t hear us, so he was always frustrated.
Karam not only helped my father regain his hearing, they enrolled all of us in school. Studying has always been my top priority. I was fourteen when I went back to school, they put me in third grade because I had missed so much. Every day I was taking intensive classes to catch up with my classmates.
I worked hard and got good grades until I reached and finished eighth grade. Right as I was getting ready to register for high school, the school administration told us that there was no record of my grades — they had lost EVERYTHING. I was devastated.
My only other option was to enroll in The Accelerated Education Program (HEP), where students are taught courses in the Turkish language and basic math and science. The program is eight months long, but it took me two years to finish it.
After graduating from HEP, I had all of my records in Turkey and was finally able to enroll in a school of my choice. I decided to go to trade school for carpentry. At school, we learn for two days and work for 3. The school has a contract with multiple carpenters who take us in for hands-on experience.
If I could send a letter to the world, I would say: it is important to remain on the right path and not cause any trouble. Education is the most important thing in life, so always seek the knowledge you crave, no matter what it is.