One of the most powerful advocates for children's
education is a Pakistani girl who nearly died
at the hands of the Taliban, simply because
she insisted on going to school.
And this week, Malala Yousafzai turned her
attention to the plight of children forced
to leave school as they fled the war in Syria.
We reached her at the largest refugee camp
in Jordan, along the border with Syria, where
more than 100,000 Syrians are now crowded
together.
Malala and the head of her Malala Fund, Shiza
Shahid, were there to raise money to pay for
schools and teachers at Zaatari camp.
When they joined us via Skype, Malala told
of seeing families arriving with almost nothing.
MALALA YOUSAFZAI: When I came here, and when
I went to the Jordanian-Syrian border, and
when I saw children, they had no shoes and
they were wearing dirty clothes and they had
a long walk in the desert for, like, 10 and
15 hours.
I just felt something in my heart that what
is their sin, what have they done that they
have to migrate, why are these innocent children
suffering from such hard situation, why are
they deprived of school, why are they deprived
of peaceful environment?
MONTAGNE: Will, I'd like to put to Shiza Shahid
one question: you've also been meeting these
children.
Is there a story that struck you as suggestive
of what many of them are going through?
SHIZA SHAHID: I'll tell you a story.
Yesterday, we were at the Syrian-Jordanian
border where refugees cross over.
And you don't realize what that means 'til
you see it.
They literally walk across miles of barren
desert with nothing in their hand, half of
their family left behind in Syria, fighting
or dead.
And so as I watched that, I approached this
boy - he was about three years old and had
the most beautiful green eyes and I started
to play with him.
And his mother turned to me apologetically
and said I bathed him before he left but the
desert was very dusty.
And in those words, I realized how deeply
she was clinging on to, not just hope, but
her dignity as a human being, having left
everything behind.
She wanted me to know that her child wasn't
dirty because she didn't know how to keep
him clean, though, because the desert was
dusty.
And that was incredibly moving to me.
Giving these people an education will give
them back that dignity.
MONTAGNE: Are there schools in the camp at
all, Jordan's largest camp?
SHAHID: Yes, there are three schools and there's
about 50,000 children here.
MONTAGNE: Three schools serving 50,000 children.
SHAHID: Yeah.
YOUSAFZAI: Only three schools.
And what happens, I saw so many boys and they
were doing some child labor.
They were collecting some stones.
The children are contributing to their family
through child labor.
They have to work, they have to earn something
for their family, for their food, for their
basic needs, such as water.
SHAHID: Renee, if I may pitch in, you know,
there's a very high concentration of female-led
households amongst the Syrian refugees because
so many of the men are at war or have been
killed in the fighting.
And so a lot of children are having to bear
the burdens that their fathers used to.
And in addition they've had to leave behind
all their possessions, which is increasing
the incidences of child labor, which Malala
refers to.
MONTAGNE: I'm wondering, in the middle of
this war - and it's a very vicious war - these
kids who are among the refugees, they need
shelter, they need food, but tell us how important
is it for a child to have a school to go to?
YOUSAFZAI: A child learns every day in something
new.
But if he is living in an environment where
he sees violence, where he sees bad people,
it has a very bad influence on their child.
But if he's in a different environment, in
a healthy environment, in an environment where
he can learn, he's going to school, he has
teachers, he is learning how to work in groups
and how to work in collaboration with each
other, so then it has a good impact on the
child's future.
MONTAGNE: Malala, do these children know you
when they meet you?
Do they know your story?
YOUSAFZAI: I think most of these children
does not know who I am, but they know me as
Malala, a girl, their friend.
They do not know me as, like, a celebrity,
kind of god, but they just know me from their
heart.
And they have been my friend.
And they're so nice to me.
They love me and I like that.
They know me as Malala, as a girl.
MONTAGNE: Well, Shiza Shahid and Malala Yousafzai,
thank you both, very much, for joining us.
SHAHID: Thank you so much, Renee.
YOUSAFZAI: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: They spoke to us from the Zaatari
refugee camp in Jordan across the border from
Syria.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION
from NPR News.
