Background
Following the invasion by Daesh (IS) of Mosul and the plains of Nineveh in June 2014, thousands of Iraqi Christian families fled to Jordan to apply for asylum with the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
School Education
A few months after arriving in Amman in February 2015, Fr Khalil put in place an informal school program for 350 children between the ages of 6 – 16 years, said programme referred to as “Marka School for Iraqi children”. This was in response to the fact that refugee children are not allowed to enrol at Jordanian state schools and therefore must either join Christian private schools or go without. Given that refugees have neither the financial means to support their children at such private schools nor are there enough such schools in Jordan anyway, the programme quickly became of critical importance.
The twenty qualified teachers providing this education are, themselves, Iraqi refugees and are paid a basic wage to provide them and their families with some financial assistance.
ICIN donated to this project from 2014 until July 2017. This project is now being fully funded by other organisations, therefore ICIN has allocated the funds previously given to Marka School to other vital projects.