A School That Gives Hope and Courage (1)

On August 27, 2024, Venerable Pomnyun and JTS activists headed to Gaziantep, where JTS has been conducting relief efforts for the recovery of the Turkey-Syria earthquake victims. Departing from Frankfurt, the group met with JTS representative Park Jina and interpreter Abdul Wahab at Istanbul Airport, who would be accompanying them on their visit to Syria.

Abdul Wahab, the secretary-general of Help Syria, an organization supporting Syrian refugees, first connected with JTS during relief efforts following the Turkey-Syria earthquake. As the first Syrian student to study in South Korea, he played a crucial role in this support mission.

After exchanging greetings, the group immediately boarded the flight to Gaziantep. Throughout the journey, Venerable Pomnyun engaged in extensive discussions with Wahab about the earthquake recovery situation and the direction of JTS’s relief efforts.

The flight departed from Istanbul Airport at 3:20 PM and, after a 1-hour and 50-minute journey, arrived at Gaziantep Airport at 5:10 PM.

After retrieving their luggage and exiting the airport, they were greeted by a White Helmets activist who has been working with JTS on earthquake recovery efforts. The activist warmly welcomed the Venerable Pomnyun.

“Welcome to Gaziantep. We have been waiting for your visit for a long time. We are so happy to see you today.”
After exchanging warm handshakes, they headed to their accommodation.

After settling in, they went to a restaurant for dinner with White Helmets activists. During the meal, they discussed the earthquake recovery progress and the schedule for the next day’s site visits.

JTS, which has been assisting in the recovery efforts following the Turkey-Syria earthquake, is working with White Helmets to construct a new school building for 3,500 students. During the dinner, discussions took place with the White Helmets project director, the head of school construction, and the Gaziantep coordinator. They shared updates on the school’s construction progress and the hardships people have faced since the earthquake.

First and foremost, they expressed their shared hope for an end to the war in Syria as soon as possible.

“Last year, you visited the earthquake-affected areas for the first time. How was your experience?”

“I initially thought the earthquake-affected areas were in a desert, but when I visited, I saw that they were along the Mediterranean coast, with fields full of olive groves, creating a peaceful landscape. If not for the devastation caused by war and the earthquake, I thought this could have been such a truly beautiful country. I also have a deep interest in ancient civilizations like Assyria and Sumer, so I was glad to learn that this region carries the legacy of such rich historical cultures.”

“Thank you for seeing our country in such a positive light. Unfortunately, because of the ongoing war, we are unable to fully showcase our beautiful natural environment and ancient civilizations. Once peace is restored, I would love to take you to many cities steeped in the history of these great civilizations. I truly hope that day comes soon.”

“I hope so too.”

Venerable Pomnyun offered words of encouragement to the White Helmets activists, acknowledging their hard work in building the school despite the challenging conditions.

“You have worked hard to build a school despite the difficulties.”

“We are even more grateful to you, Venerable Pomnyun. Without you, we couldn’t have even imagined building a school. Thanks to you and JTS, we were able to provide a place where children can dream of their future and study. We are so happy and proud. Once the school is completed and classes resume, we plan to introduce Korean culture to the students and display materials about JTS, which has supported us.”

As they continued their conversation, the sun began to set. Venerable Pomnyun suggested that once the school was completed, it would be meaningful to create a small memorial park to honor the teachers and students who lost their lives due to the earthquake.

“The earthquake took the lives of many children and teachers. I hope that the completion of this school will help many people overcome their pain and find hope again. How about creating a small memorial park to honor the students and teachers who lost their lives in the disaster? We could at least set up a monument inscribed with their names, symbolizing our commitment to carrying on their dreams and developing this school for future generations.”

“Yes, that is a wonderful suggestion. We will make the necessary preparations.”

They continued discussing the progress of the earthquake recovery efforts. Venerable Pomnyun asked about the current state of the restoration work.

Venerable Pomnyun asked, “It has been a year and a half since the earthquake. What is the current situation? Have most of the schools been restored? Are students attending school regularly? Are there schools that need to be completely rebuilt, or are some being used after partial repairs? How much progress has been made in the recovery overall?”

The White Helmets activists shared the current situation.

One million children who have been unable to attend school since the earthquake

“With the help of the international community, the restoration of school buildings damaged by the earthquake has made significant progress, but most of it has been limited to repairs. About 20 percent of schools are still unrepaired. In terms of students, over 1 million children are unable to attend school compared to before the civil war. The city of Idlib, with a pre-war population of 150,000, now houses 900,000 due to an influx of refugees. However, the school buildings remain the same as they were before. Statistics show that 50 percent of children are not attending school. A lot of new schools need to be built for these children. It’s a very serious situation, yet officially, this issue is not being addressed anywhere. There is a huge need for new schools.”

Venerable Pomnyun asked another question, and the conversation continued.

“The school isn’t just about having classrooms; teachers are essential. How do you plan to train teachers?”

“In the northern region of Syria, there were originally 2 million people, but after the earthquake, 3.5 million refugees have gathered. Many of them are teachers. Currently, universities are producing many teachers from the education departments, and I am confident that we can recruit many teachers if we look for them.”

“It would be ideal to solve the children’s education issue all at once, but due to budget and manpower limitations, realistically, we can only address part of it. Therefore, we need to prioritize. First, we should prioritize building elementary schools over middle schools. Second, instead of focusing only on building buildings, we should explore the expansion of tent schools. Third, even without teaching certifications, university graduates should be trained to become teachers. By starting with the most basic education, we can gradually transition tent schools into permanent buildings and temporary teachers into regular teachers. Education cannot afford to miss its timing.”

The White Helmets activists agreed wholeheartedly with the suggestion that, up until now, international aid has been focused on food supplies, and emphasized the need to shift more attention to the education issue, as per Venerable Pomnyun’s proposal.

Solutions to the Education Problems of Children in Refugee Camps

Finally, Venerable Pomnyun made three suggestions to concretize the direction of the future project.

“Please prepare three things for the meeting the day after tomorrow. First, how to organize the school inauguration ceremony. Second, the status of school building damage from the earthquake, the progress of repairs, and the remaining challenges. Third, how to solve the educational problems of the 3.5 million refugee children. I hope we can have a thorough discussion on these topics.”

Building school buildings is important, but the priority should be to ensure that children do not miss the crucial time for their education. Whether it’s under a tree or inside a tent, the most important thing is to make sure that children can receive an education. If it’s difficult to find teachers quickly, we may need to consider using online technologies for education. We can establish one regular school where excellent teachers provide high-quality education, and then connect the rest of the hundreds of schools to that school via online lessons. Each classroom will need an assistant teacher to show the video lessons, assign tasks, and manage the children. By introducing online technology, it’s possible to offer high-quality lessons to tens of thousands of students at once. If there is one assistant teacher per tent school, we can open schools anywhere and provide education to many students at a fast pace.

“There are many places in the refugee camps where there is no internet.”

“There is a satellite internet service called ‘Starlink’ that receives internet data from satellites. Wouldn’t it be possible to make good use of that?”

“The idea you gave us is excellent. However, the infrastructure is almost nonexistent, so we need to build the infrastructure as well while solving the children’s education problem. We haven’t had much time to think deeply about the education issue yet.”

“Sounds good. Let’s have a thorough discussion about these issues the day after tomorrow.”

The next day, after requesting to visit a few more schools that JTS is building, as well as some that have not yet been repaired or are still under repair, the conversation ended. The day in Gaziantep was then concluded as the group returned to their accommodations.

This article was edited based on a manuscript provided by the “A Day in the Life of a Monk” team.