SINAI’S SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOL

World Vision Colombia provides refugee children with quality learning environments in the wake of COVID-19, with ECW-funding

By Education Cannot Wait

November 11^th, 2022

SPANISH

Thirteen-year-old Sinai swiftly organizes her pencils, crayons, notebooks, primers and block sheets in the morning before her sister Yelitza takes her to school. It’s the first time she’s prepared to go to school in two years, and she’s teeming with excitement.

Due to the humanitarian, political and socio-economic crises in her home country of Venezuela, Sinai was forced to flee her home in search of a better life. Her family traveled across the border and relocated to Colombia to access basic services such as education, healthcare, housing, and more work opportunities.

The Venezuelan refugee crisis is the largest ever recorded in the Americas and Colombia hosts the largest numbers of refugees and migrants from the country. Many of them are children and adolescents. Sinai is one of 222 million children around the world whose education has been impacted by crises like this one. All of them are in need of urgent educational support to realize their #222MillionDreams✨📚.

OUT OF SCHOOL

But even after settling down in Colombia, Sinai couldn’t step foot in a classroom. In her new home, she helped her mother with household chores and errands. Since she couldn’t go to school, her family occasionally brought home colored paper and other art supplies to pass the time.

When she was finally ready to enroll at a school in Norte de Santander, the pandemic halted her learning trajectory.

Sinai’s spirit was crushed. What she longed for was ripped away once again — an education. She had imagined being back again in a classroom with students her own age. Instead, she was restricted to learning at home.

"For many months I had to study from home using a cell phone, but it wasn't the same as learning in person,” says Sinai.

Sinai wears her face mask before heading to school in the morning. Photo © World Vision Colombia

BACK TO SCHOOL

Thanks to an Education Cannot Wait-funded programme implemented by World Vision Colombia, Sinai has finally been able to return permanently to in-person school as of August 2021. With renovated classrooms, Sinai and 40 other children and adolescents are now back in safe learning environments. And the Ministry of Education’s biosecurity criteria and protocols are preventing the further spread of the virus.

When she heard the news, Sinai was overjoyed. She is excited to learn math, English and Spanish again. Her teachers are motivating her to keep going to reach her dreams.

"I found it fun to go back to school. To learn again, to study with my classmates and to be able to share again,” says Sinai.

While the transition from remote learning to in-person classes has been an adjustment for her, Sinai recognizes that having a teacher present makes a big difference. She feels more engaged and inspired. She’s able to ask questions when she doesn’t understand.

The ECW-funded programme has altered the course of Sinai’s life.

"They have always helped children who want to get ahead and who want to continue studying and succeed in life,” says her mother. “I don't know how to thank them with all this help that all of us migrants are receiving.”

Sinai and her mother reflect on the educational opportunities funded by ECW. Photo © World Vision Colombia

SAFE AND PROTECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS TRANSFORM LIVES

Since 2016, ECW has reached over 57,000 children and over 22,000 refugees in Colombia.

At the end of the day's classes, Sinai’s eyes crinkle into a smile above her mask as she recounts her experience.

Her return to school has motivated her to keep reaching for her dreams. She dreams of becoming an entrepreneur or a teacher someday to help her neighbors and teach the children in her community about topics such as environmental issues and citizenship.

"I tell my friends to keep studying… I would like them all to come back to school,” she says.

Ahead of the Fund’s High-Level Financing Conference, convened on February 16-17, 2023 in Geneva, ECW is calling on world leaders, donors, governments, private sector companies, high-net-worth individuals, and other global advocates to turn their commitments into action.

The conference provides a key moment for leaders to make contributions to ECW and our global promise of inclusive and quality education for all, as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals. Together, we can turn the #222MillionDreams✨📚 of children like Sinai into a reality.

Sinai and her classmates learn safely in their rehabilitated classroom in Norte de Santander. Photo © World Vision Colombia.

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