A little star in darkness..
The best place for an orphan child is not in an orphanage, the best place for an orphan child is in a family
SHELTER
This section provides 24/ 7 safe shelter for the children including food, drink, clothing and medicine.
The main goal of this section is to meet the most basic needs of each child. Objectives:
.Objectives:
• Spacious and comfortable home (bed, bathroom, kitchen, etc.)
• Electricity and clean water
• Clothing, socks and shoes
• Healthy hot meal (3x/day)
• Daily hygiene maintenance
• Daily laundry and clothing washing
• Health screening and necessary medicine
• Safest home location within conflict area
PROTECTION
This section provides full-time security and caretaker support, following strict safeguarding and child protection policies, and enforcing 3rd party safety monitoring and evaluation.
The main goal of this section is to rebuild the trust between the children and their communities.
.Objectives:
• Full-time security
• Full-time caretaker(s)
• Private home in a safe area
• Safeguarding and Child Protection training for staff and children
• A safe channel for each child to report (Child Protection)
• A reporting system implemented by 3rd party Safety Monitoring and Evaluation
• 24-hour security camera
• Full screening, background check and prior training of all staff
• Alarm system inside the house
• Accompanying children to any place outside the home (school, doctor, shopping, etc.)
EDUCATION
This section provides a complete three-part education program including intensive, basic, and complementary education.
The main goal of this section is to re-enroll each student in the public school system at the appropriate level.
· intensive education:
by providing intensive courses for children who haven’t attended school for a long period of time, have gaps in their knowledge, or are illiterate in order to prepare them for the appropriate education level
· basic education:
by enrolling the children in the public schools in the region, they receive basic education while also supporting their integration into society and preventing isolation
· complementary education:
by providing the children with private school inside the facility to ensure they are ready to attend the public school, while also providing supplementary high-quality education in the following areas:
1. Creative Development
2. Technology
3. Language
4. Life Skills
.Objectives:
• Provide structure and routine for the children
• Provide intensive courses to prepare our children for the public school
• Enroll each child in public school at the appropriate level
• Provide complementary education to support public school work
• Provide additional courses to teach important modern tools of communication
• Educate our children on their own rights and protection and response
• Educate our children about world issues and how to get involved
• Support our children in individual interests and career pursuits
• Empower our children to believe in their own power and ability to create a better future
• Provide 24/7 education support via teachers, caretakers, and education manager
• Provide our children with highly-skilled teachers
• Inspire our students to work hard to build a better future
MENTAL & EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
This section provides professional mental and emotional support through individual psychological assessments and MHPSS (Mental Health and Psychosocial) activities.
The main goal of this section is to provide each child an outlet to process their trauma.
.Objectives:
• Weekly individual psychological interview with trained professional
• Provide regular MHPSS activities such as movement exercises and non-competitive sports activities
• Address and reduce PTSD symptoms
• Teach responsibility and encourage children to be active participants in their lives and not just beneficiaries
• Give each child responsibility such as cleaning their school and caring for animals, plants, etc.
• Implement the UNICEF psychosocial support program
• Encourage children to adopt a survivor mindset and use their situation to become a change maker
• Educate children about people just like them who have overcome their situation
GUARDIANSHIP
The previous activities (Shelter, Protection, Education, and Mental & Emotional Support) are seen as preparation phases for the capstone section of the project: Guardianship. This section consists of a three-part sustainability plan including Child Placement, Family Sustainability, and Monitoring & Evaluation.
The main goal of this section is to place each child in a loving family and create financial sustainability for that family.
.Objectives:
1. Child Placement:
· Interview, assess, and conduct background checks of families in the community
· Select families based on our policies and prior assessments
· Train and prepare selected families to become guardians
· Train and prepare children to be adopted
· Make guardian families aware of their noble decisions, their commitments and expectations of them
· Build strong relations between CH team and placement families
· Support guardian families financially for 2 years (200€/month)
· Support guardian families and children emotionally
2. Family Sustainability:
· Provide a professional Business Training for guardian families to start their own project
· Provide each family the tools to write a business proposal
· Provide a startup fund for families to start a business or project
· Relieve financial stress of starting a business for families
· Provide 6 months individual Business Consulting
· Ensure families feel supported and can seek advice about business
3. Monitoring & Evaluation:
· Conduct routine visits to families by Child Placement, Child Protection & Monitoring team for 2 years following the placement
· Report from team after child interview about family and home life, psychological state, etc.
· Report from team after family interview about child behavior, school performance, etc.
· Ensure child is ready continue life with family without the support of the CH team
· Report from Individual Business Consultants about status of each business
\Mission
Our mission is to provide orphan children in conflict areas the opportunity to be part of a family.
What do we do today?
Provide shelter including:
24/ 7 security and caretaker support, food, full-bodied education, mental/ emotional support, and guardian placement
Who do we serve?
Orphan children in conflict areas surviving without a mother or father
What are we trying to accomplish?
Ensuring safety and equipping the children with the tools that can serve them through adulthood to make a change in their community in the future
What impact do we want to achieve?
1. To protect vulnerable orphan children living in conflict areas from child abuse, sexual violence, or military recruitment
2. To prepare the children to enter the public school system
3. To provide an environment that allows the children to begin their journey of healing from their past trauma
4. To provide the children with the opportunity to be part of a family
5. To provide financial support for around 60 families
6. To inspire and provide the opportunity of virtual financial adoption of children to international families
Vision
Our vision is to end the cycle of abuse, sexual violence, and military recruitment for orphan children living in conflict areas in Syria.
Where are we going moving forward?
We want to prepare the children to be ready to enter the public school, to support their trauma recovery journey and to place them in a loving family
What do we want to achieve in the future?
To place each child in a loving family that will give them the opportunity to thrive and build a better future
What kind of future society do we envision?
A generation who adopts the philosophy of survivor rather than victim, is proud of their background, and uses their journey as an inspiration to make a change in the lives of others.
Values Questions
What do we stand for?
Ending child abuse and violence, and military recruitment; Child Human Rights and Protection, Education for all
What behaviors do we value over all else?
kindness, calmness, respectfulness, transparency, collaboration, acceptance, service, humility, dignity, trust, community, empowerment, strength, equality, compassion, responsibility, social awareness (climate change, others, animals,etc.), belonging
How will we conduct our activities to achieve our mission and vision?
1. By enrolling the children in the public-school system to prevent exclusion from the society.
2. By providing a full-bodied education program including intensive, basic, and complementary education to prepare them for a positive future.
3. By implementing an extensive child protection and safeguarding program to ensure safety and educate our children about their safety and rights.
4. By surrounding our children with a skilled, professional and compassionate team.
5. By providing various channels of mental and emotional support for our children to process their trauma.
6. By using our international network to create awareness and global support for our children.
7. By conducting extensive background checks and facilitating preliminary training and continual support for placement families.
How do we treat members of our own organization and community?
• We are transparent, inclusive, professional and inspiring in how we operate
• We encourage personal and communal responsibility
• We uphold personal development, empowerment, and trust with high regard
VALUES
Belonging - we are inclusive and welcome everyone
Empowerment - we all have something to contribute, no matter who you are or where you are
Optimism - we focus on the change we see and what we can do to help
Responsibility - we serve each other and we care about the well-being of the overall community
Respect - we respect the privacy and voices of the children we serve
HumilityHumility - we understand our limitations and welcome advice and improvement
Protection - we put the safety of the children we serve above all
Dignity - we give each child a name, story, and face and give them the opportunity to voice their needs and opinions rather than what society decides for them
Collaboration - we promote mixed group projects and demonstrate our collaboration with our international team
Integrity - we are transparent, honest, and resourceful
Quality - we aim to provide the highest quality of education, shelter, and teachers for the children we serve
Awareness - we educate the children we serve about their own rights and responsibilities (human rights, social awareness, etc.)
Capacity Building:
We choose to serve a maximum of 30 mixed gender children in one house.
We believe this is the optimal number of children we can serve while attending to individual needs and still encouraging their personal development.
We will serve children 6 years old and above.
Our philosophy for choosing to serve children in this age group is based on the fact that children above 6 years old are ready to attend the public school, which we believe is an important step to help them achieve in their pursuit for a better future. Additionally, as an organization specializing in informal education and mental & emotional support, we believe our expertise is best matched with this age group.
About Us
OUR STORY
In 2019, our founders, Happy Caravan and Connect by Music recognized their common mission to serve children living in crisis. After working together with children in refugee camps in Greece providing informal education (Happy Caravan) and psychosocial support (Connect by Music), together we saw daily the affects the war in Syria was still having on these children. But what about the "forgotten" children who didn't make it to Europe and are still living in the conflict areas in Syria? What about the children living without caretakers or family? We knew we had to do more and from this experience came the idea of Child Houses - a dream to provide optimal support and full opportunity for orphan children living in conflict areas in Syria. We know that the best environment for a child to thrive is in a family. Our dream is to provide each orphan child the opportunity to be part of a loving family household where they can shine bright. Along the way, we will to use our experience and resources to prepare each child for a better future ahead accompanied by a strong new support system!
