Planting Hope

“A lemon and a loquat tree were planted by my grandfather in front of our house back in Hums – Bab Amr in Syria. My grandfather died and our home was taken by the fighting groups, I don’t know what happened to those trees since we fled Syria three years ago”.  

That was Rayyan, 15, who is in the 7th grade. “I’m supposed to be in the 8th grade but I dropped out of school for one year because of the war”, he added “I like planting, here in Jordan I volunteer to help our neighbors plant.”

Under No Lost Generation project (NLG), part of World Vision Jordan’s response to the Syrian crisis, in partnership with Global Affairs Canada (GAC), a planting activity to make Rayyan’s school more beautiful took place in one of the NLG beneficiary schools in Rusaifeh by 23 students. Four students were Syrian and 19 were Jordanian.

During this activity we had the chance to chat with Rayyan from Syria and his friend Omar from Jordan who attend the same school. Omar told us “Cooperating with others and working as a team is one of many things I learnt today during this activity. Rayyan dug the hole, I put the tree in the hole, and both of us covered the roots with the soil”, Omar also added “I will plant melons and watermelon seeds at my home during the summer break”.

Ligustrum trees were donated by the Municipality of Rusaifeh to be planted in this school by the students who are enrolled in the NLG program. This kind of hardy tree doesn’t need regular watering, which makes it suitable for Jordan’s dry environment. Eleven community members attended this activity to support the students and watch the tree planting activities done by the 13-16 year old boys.

The school principal, Mr. Bassam Freihat, said the teachers and students came up with the idea together to plant trees to improve the school’s environment. He hoped the activity would build a sense of belonging as well as reduce any potential violence through bonding with nature and investing time in a useful activity.

Hatem, a Jordanian in the 10th grade, and Bahri, a Syrian in the 9th grade, became friends after they met during the first child-to-child session. These sessions are part of child participation activities to strengthen actions to address the protection needs of the students.

Hatem and Bahri worked as a team to plant a tree and along with their other friend, Mohammad from Syria, they watered the tree.

Mohammad (left), Hatem (middle) and Bahri (right) work together to improve the school's environment. 

Hatem explained, “We release our energy when we plant and we also make a social bond with other students, Syrians and Jordanians, through this activity. Because Bahri and I are friends, we started working as a team”. “Leadership skills are something to learn and experience during planting” said Bahri who left Syria and now lives in Rusaifeh, Jordan.