Hear from our English Course Participant Hanan

Hanan Khirmish Kalash 33 years Kabarto camp, Duhok (Internally Displaced Person) “I advise girls to depend more on themselves, because it is not always reliable to depend on others, something I learned when my mother fleed to Turkey, when ISIS realized she was continuing with her hairdressing services, which they classified as haram. This opportunity at Weh Center has helped me to support my children with their studies and boosted my self-esteem and mental health, making the challenges of living a camp life, less dreadful. The English Course has renewed within me a sense of self-accomplishment, which I wish my family members were around to see.” Hanan was a well-known hair dresser in Sinjar but had to flee her home due to the ISIS attacks. Apart from tremendous financial losses, she had to endure the grief of losing several family members. In the camp, her children were struggling with learning English and she did not have the financial means to send them for tuitions. Motivated by her mother’s advice, she decided to attend the English Course offered at the Center, where her skills in communication, reading and writing improved, enabling her to teach her children and through that support they were able to pass their grades and succeed without any additional private tutoring. She wishes she can continue on this journey of self-reliance and development by enrolling for an advanced course of the English language at the Center.