PROJECT:

The Hope Centre, Shariya Camp

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One would never imagine that such a place as The Hope Centre could exist in a war-torn region, much less within the confines of a 20,000-person Yezidi refugee camp.

Walking across the threshold of our blue gates, one steps into a world of hope. Seven years ago, we would have found it hard to define “hope.” Today, we recognize its sound, we know it has many colors, it has a shape and form—and even a taste and smell. The Hope Centre is a living testimony to the power of hope in the healing journeys of our students: some of whom were taken to Syria during the conflict, and others who fled with nothing in the chaotic weeks that engulfed their homeland of Sinjar.

Behind our blue gates, the rebuilding of young lives quietly takes place. These are the kids who were drawn into unimaginable roles, forced to participate in things far beyond their years. Young men whose dreams were to be doctors, lawyers, and archaeologists found themselves as teens, carrying weapons instead of books. The Hope Centre is where, through love, acceptance, education, and vocational training, those dreams are rediscovered and revived.

Amidst lush orchards, sculptures, the scent of lavender, and friendly animals, young women who endured violence and deep suffering begin to reclaim their identities. Women who were sold and exploited now rediscover their worth and rewrite their futures. Girls who once walked in wearing black and bearing silence now laugh out loud, dance, try new styles, and wear colors—pink, orange, green, red—every shade but black.

The Hope Centre offers a high standard of education across the arts, including music, drama, and photography. Students participate in regular exhibitions within the Centre, in the local community, and beyond.

English as a second language is taught both in-person and online by experienced international volunteers, alongside instruction in computer science, coding, and programming. The limited horizons of camp life are expanded as students explore geography, world cultures, and global peace leaders.

Sports—football, volleyball, track, and gymnastics—have become key parts of our curriculum, supporting both those who’ve been through crisis and those displaced by war.

We place quiet but vital emphasis on psychotrauma counseling and play therapy, available to all our students and to members of the local community.

The Hope Centre welcomes those the world often casts aside. It offers love to those who struggle to love themselves. It breathes dignity into lives once shaped by shame. While we are an educational center at our core, we are also something more. We are a counterculture—a way of living built on restoration. And with your support, we will continue to impact lives and transform generations to come.